Hello Bangkok!

It’s been over a week since we made it to Bangkok. Our flight landed around 1:30 AM Friday, October 17.  We stayed that night in a hotel by the airport. We did not fly into the big airport in Bangkok (BKK); we flew into Don Mueang International Airport.  When we leave Bangkok, we will fly out of the regular BKK airport.

Osaka to Bangkok Flight

The flight from Osaka to Bangkok was over 5 hours and left at 9 PM Thursday.  Leaving that late was our saving grace in that we were tired enough to sleep on the plane way more than we usually do.  We were in coach on AirAsia but the leg room was so much better than any US domestic flight so that also made things better.  The airline was fine. It was one of those where you have to buy everything that is not the ticket to get on the plane - seat selection, food, wifi, any luggage more than a personal item weighing more than 7 kilograms. I sure do miss the days when you paid for the ticket and you got to check a bag and they would feed you a meal for no extra cost.  That type of flight is hard to find in this part of the world so we went with it.

We did find such a flight when we were booking our flight out of Chiang Mai, Thailand to Da Nang, Vietnam in December.  Then we will be flying Emirates - a first for us.

We both probably slept 3-3 ½ hours on the way to Bangkok which is SO much more than either of us usually sleep on flights. Yay!

12 The Residence Hotel

Since we got in so early in the morning, we stayed at a hotel near the airport - “12 The Residence Hotel.” Not sure why “12” is in the name but it is.  The hotel was nothing fancy but it was clean and safe and the bed was comfortable. We spent about $40 on it.  I am sure some people will freak out thinking we were in some kind of seedy, dirty dive motel, but you would be wrong.  Prices are different here. I would actually have no issues staying there for several days.  The location wasn’t that great since it is not really near any of the sites we want to see, but maybe that is part of why it was cheap.  Don’t get me wrong, it was no Penisula Hotel, but it was just fine.

The hotel had a 10 AM checkout time, which I thought was a bit too early.  Not sure I have been in a place with such an early checkout. After we woke up and got ready, we took a Grab to The Peninsula Hotel.  Woo Hoo! (Grab is like Uber and used widely in this part of the world.)  It was a 45 minute drive and cost us a little less than $7.00.  You can’t beat that!  We have taken Grab several times since we have been here and not one trip cost more than that.  We haven’t tried public transportation yet, but that is more a function of my getting the flu than anything else.

The Peninsula Hotel

Staying at The Peninsula was a splurge for us.  I hesitate to say how much it cost because it was A LOT!  We have never stayed at a hotel as nice as this.  We probably got close with La Fonda in Sante Fe, New Mexico and the Shangri La in Sydney Australia but they really don’t come close to the level of service we experienced at The Peninsula.  It is clearly a 5-star hotel. We figured if we were going to spend that kind of money, we better do it right, so we got a room with a balcony overlooking the Chao Phraya river.  We were there for a whole week and spent hours over the course of that week sitting on the balcony watching the boat traffic. The service was nearly impeccable.  I say nearly because on one day, they did not service our room until after 3:00 PM, and another, it was after 2 PM.  Not a big deal, but if you are going to use “impeccable” to describe something, things had better be perfect.

The Flu

While I would have rather not spent my time at the Peninsula fighting illness, if you are going to be sick, it is a lovely place to be laid up in bed. About that illness…

On Monday of our stay (remember, we got there on Friday), I decided to go see the doctor for the cough I had had since before we got off the cruise ship.  Having a chronic cough is nothing new to me.  Anytime I get a cold or some sort of bug, I get a cough that lingers for weeks and weeks.  But I had gone to a pharmacy Saturday morning and got some meds for the cough but by Monday it was no better, maybe slightly worse.  The doctor gave me meds and offered a combo flu/covid/RSV test but I declined thinking it was likely just another cough I could not shake.  But by Tuesday, I was achy, had chills, and the cough was worse.  So Wednesday, we went back to the doctor.  I had a fever of 101.6 so they recommended, not just offered, the flu/covid/RSV test.  The test came back positive for Flu A.  I was given Tamiflu and an anti-inflammatory and told to go back Friday so the doctore could listen to my chest again. The nurse gave me her WhatsApp and told me to text her my updates. In hindsight, perhaps I should have gotten the flu shot when I got the pneumonia vaccine back in August.  I can report that today, I am on the mend.  My fever broke Thursday morning. When I texted the nurse she told me to come Monday instead of Friday (yesterday) so that is what I am going to do.  I still tire fairly easily and we are taking it easy until I go back to the doctor.  Blaise is being very thoughtful and understanding but I am sure he is growing weary of my getting sick when we travel.  I hope this is it for a while.

One last thing about the flu - the doctor said right now there is a TON of flu in this part of the world - Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia.

Laundry

Because we were considered an “extended stay” at The Peninsula, they gave us 50% off their laundry services.  You would think “Wow! What a bargain!”  But you would be wrong.  On Tuesday (before I found out I had the flu), we decided to do the laundry.  I did the math and it was still going to cost us around $100 at 50% off.  I get, we were splurging staying there, but I am sorry, I am NOT going to spend $100 for fancy laundry service.  I would much rather spend $100 getting some sort of experience.  We were not going to get any cool experience out of a posh hotel doing our laundry.  I guess maybe they might have smelled really lovely.  Maybe.

Since Blaise and I both decided that is not how we wanted to spend our money, I found a laundromat a 7-minute walk from The Peninsula. We loaded our dirty laundry in our Celebrity Cruises tote and headed out the front door of the 5-star Peninsula Hotel to the laundromat.

It might not have been 5-star service, but the charming owner of the cleanest laundromat we had ever been to, came out and gave us a tutorial on how to use the machines.  It was as close to 5-star as you could get in a laundromat.  Chatting with him, we learned he spent 2 years with a host family in his teens in California, later living in Houston, working at Astroworld.  He was so excited we were from the United States and even more so when he found out we were from Texas. We enjoyed visiting with him.  Small world.

Cleanest laundromat you ever did see

Leaving The Peninsula

Yesterday, Friday, we said farewell to The Peninsula Hotel, as we headed out to our AirBnB for the next three weeks.  I am really going to miss the special treatment of The Peninsula but how special would a place like that be if you did it all the time?  We certainly would not be able to be gone for 8 months if we did that the whole time we are gone. As we got into the Grab to head to AirBnB, I told Blaise “We had a good run at The Peninsula.”

The New AirBnB

The AirBnB we checked into yesterday is small, but clean and safe.  The air conditioner works well, the shower is hot, and the bed is comfy. And it is about 20% the price we paid at The Peninsula for the 3 weeks we will be here.  The host met us in the lobby and showed us around.  The place has a gym and a swimming pool.  We found a place for breakfast this morning near the condo, but have spend the rest of the day relaxing as I continue to recover from the flu.  I hope by Monday, we will be able to start seeing the sites.

Our AirBnB for the next 3 weeks

The kitchen

Thoughts on Thailand

Thailand is much different from Japan and Osaka.  Thailand is grittier and not near as clean as Japan but Bangkok has been much cleaner than I expected.  It is not filthy by any stretch.

While the people were nice and helpful in Japan, it felt different than the kindness displayed by the Thai people.  I think the best way to describe the difference is the people of Japan are helpful and polite because that is what is expected of them; that is how the Japanese society operates.  They were taught from a very young age that polite society does very specific things and does NOT do very specific other things - a very strict set of rules.  Whereas in Thailand, it all feels like the kindness comes from the heart.  They are thoughtful because they want to be thoughtful, not necessarily because society demands it.  I am not even sure if that makes sense.  The end result is roughly the same; it just feels a bit different.

All that to say that thus far, we LOVE both countries!

One last observation of Thailand before I call it quits so we can have dinner.  While the Thai people are big bowers too, they add what I call the “prayer hands.”  It is called the “wai” - the placing of the palms together in a prayer-like pose and slightly bowing.  I find it a wonderful way to greet people but I love the whole bowing thing anyway.

Musings of Our Time in Japan

Leaving the Ship

Today is Thursday.  We left the ship on Saturday after 2 extra days at sea on the ship due to the typhoon. It was an easy debarkation with a free shuttle to the train station.  There was quite the line at the kiosks to purchase tickets with all the cruisers dispersing hither and yon.

The Trip to Osaka

I always feel pressure to be efficient at a ticket kiosk when there is a line of people waiting.  Fortunately, there was an employee there to help.  I showed him on my phone where we were going (Osaka, which is a 2-hour train ride from where we were once we got to the right station) and he purchased the tickets (with our money), letting me know he purchased general seating tickets.  Little did we know that this was a BAD thing.

After initially going the wrong way on the right line, we made it to the station where we picked up the bullet train from Tokyo to Osaka.  There was a bit of foreshadowing when we were trying to figure out what train car we needed to be on when a helpful American took a look at our tickets and said “Oh, you are in cars 1 and 2 for general seating,” as he looked at us like we were lepers.  Little did we know that most of that train had assigned seats and if you did not purchase that option, you were shoved into cars 1 or 2 like cattle.  There were seats but since our stop was not the origination of the line, not only were the seats all taken, so was most of the standing area.  It took us 3 trains to find one where we were able to push ourselves and our luggage into the car.  We were shoved in there like sardines and still more people were pushing their way in.  And so we stood for about 1 hour and 20 minutes before the first stop.  We could not move and I was sweating the likes of which you have never seen before.  If I had balls before that train ride, they would be gone because I sweated them off during that wretched ride.  Add to that, I still had my cough and was doing everything in my power not to cough.  I was the only one on that train sweating profusely so in addition to being absolutely miserable, I was embarrassed.  At the first stop, some people finally got off and were able to adjust with a bit more room.

I think it took us about 4 trains in total and a 20 minute walk to get to the apartment we stayed in.  (We used booking.com for this one.)

Our Osaka Apartment

The apartment was cozy if not a bit different than what we are used to.  You walk straight into a narrow galley kitchen that you have to step up into.  As is common in Japan, wearing shoes in the apartment was prohibited so there was a little area before you take the step up into the kitchen to remove your shoes, place your shoes in the cubby, and put on the slippers they provided.  You walk through the galley kitchen to get to the room with the table, love seat, bed and TV. Before you get to that room, the kitchen counter and appliances were on the right and the bathroom sink and shower room were on the left just as you walked in the front door and the separate toilet room was just past that right before the bedroom area.  The bed was comfy and the apartment was lovely and quiet.

I do have to mention the shower room and the toilet because they were different that what you see elsewhere.  The bath/shower room was designed to be a whole wet room. It had a bathtub with its own faucet but the shower head was not in the bathtub, but off to the left of the tub with its own faucet so if you wanted to, you could just run that faucet or the shower head directly onto the floor.  There was no shower curtain.  The whole shower room had its own fancy ventilation system with various options - drying, hot air, cool air, and 24-hour ventilation.  We actually used that ventilation to dry the clothes we washed.  Not sure if that was the intent, but that’s what we did.  The bathroom sink and clothes washer were right outside the shower room.

The shower room in our Osaka Apartment

The ventilation controls for the shower room

The toilet in the toilet room was super fancy and had a wash basin on the back of it and when you flushed, the water in the basin automatically ran so you could wash your hands.

The toilet in our Osaka apartment

Look at all the buttons we had to learn

Observations

We were pleasantly surprised with how much we loved Osaka.  We walked nearly everywhere we went, only taking the subway once because the castle was a hour and a half away from where we were staying if we had walked.

Here’s some observations about Osaka and Japan in general:

• They are very quiet in Japan.  You will see signs in many places telling you not to talk loudly or talk on your cell phones.  This is especially observed on the trains.  Hardly anyone talks on the the subway and if they do talk, it is in whispers. And most public places were quieter than public places in other countries.

• The streets in Japan are crazy clean.  You very rarely see litter and they do not leave their trash out by the curb like you see in most cities.

• In Osaka, each building has a fairly small bin to place trash into and they pick up trash every day, 7 days a week, not just once or twice a week.

• The trash trucks play music as they drive through the streets picking up trash - little electronic tunes.  One even played “Camptown Races.”  The trash trucks are super clean too.

Look how clean this garbage truck is!

• Except for that lady that got so angry when I touched cantaloupe stem, everyone in Japan is so polite.

• There is a rule for everything and if you don’t now what the rule is, they will certainly let you know, with most people being much more kind about it than angry cantaloupe lady. It is a rules-based society for sure!

• Most restaurant had a QR code for each table. You would then order using the QR code, rather than from a waitperson.  In some instances you would pay for your food at the time of ordering while other places you simply used this method to order and paid on your way out.

• Most places have automated payment machines, even if they have a person at the counter. For example, at the grocery store, a person checks you out, but you put your money in a machine that will then dispense your change.

• If they don’t have the money machine to pay, you place your payment in a tray rather than handing them the money directly.  Then they place your change in the tray.

• It seems the Japanese have worked really hard to make anything unpleasant, as pleasant as possible - the fancy toilets, the music on the garbage trucks.

• The escalator etiquitte is interesting.  In Tokyo you ride the escalator on the left so people can run up on the right if they are in a hurry.  But in Osaka, you ride the escalator on the right and run on the left.  It’s very confusing.

• They drive on the left in Japan, so you walk everywhere on the left too but there are enough Westerners in Japan to make that whole which-side-of-the-street-do-you-walk-on confusing.

• I love the bowing.  They bow for many interactions and I think it’s great. It seems kind and respectful.

Bathrooms

The bathrooms in Japan deserve their own section.

• It is always an adventure going into public restrooms.  You never know what you are going to find.  The restrooms are always clean with lots of instructions in the stalls - “Only put toilet paper in the toilets.”  “Set your kid here.”  “Flush here.”  “Don’t stand on the toilet.” (Whose standing on the toilet?) So many signs in the stalls.

• I have been in a public restroom where you can push a button and get water noise.  I don’t know if that is to help you potty or to hide that you are pooping.  Another public restroom had a button to play music “for privacy.”

• Yet another public restroom (actually 2 of them) simply had a hole in the floor surrounded by porcelain and a little porcelain lip that went up on one side. The porcelain was oblong in shape In the Osaka airport, one of their stalls was just one of those porcelain holes.  I should have looked to see if that stall had a bunch of instructional signs like the regular stalls.

• In many of the public restrooms, they will have a little urinal close to the ground.  I am assuming that is for the little boys with their mothers.

• It was also common to see nursing rooms.  The one in the airport was super fancy with a microwave and other items I could not identify as I passed.

• The Japanese have perfected the integrated bidet.  That whole separate bidet the Europeans have is so pedestrian and not nearly as useful as the ones in Japan.  Except for the holes, I haven’t been in a single public restroom stall that did not have some fancy bidet with miscellaneous features.

• It takes a while to learn what all the pictures mean on the buttons by the toilets, but once you do they make sense.

Summary

I am sure I am missing other cultural differences but those are the highlights.

Overall, we absolutely love Japan and look forward to returning in the Spring for the Cherry Blossoms.

On to Bankok, Thailand where we will spend a month.  I am worried about my tolerance for the heat but you never know until you try, right?

From Japan to Super Cyclone

This is a bit longer than usual so feel free to skip to the parts that interest you.  That’s why I use headings.

We are finished with the “Visit Japan” portion of the cruise and entering the wait out the “Super Cyclone” part of the cruise.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Today is Wednesday, October 8 and yesterday was our last port in Japan before we get off the ship in Tokyo.

Sunday and Monday we were in the port of Muroran, with the closest big city being Sapporo.

Muroran - Day 1 - Sunday

We had a tour scheduled for Monday so we decided to stay on the ship on Sunday.  It was nice to have so few people on the ship that it nearly felt we had it all to ourselves. We explored places on the ship we hadn’t been yet and I finished another book.

Lots of people took the train into Sapporo on Sunday. It was about a 2-hour train ride.  Apparently that was a nightmare with long lines to get on a packed train since a big chunk of cruisers did this. It was on this train trip that the husband of a couple we have been talking to on the cruise, sat next to the husband of the person who was helicoptered off the ship.  He was traveling to meet his wife at the hospital, who had had a heart attack. They would not let him travel on the helicopter with her.  I can’t even imagine how I would have felt watching my ailing spouse fly away from the ship not being able to be with him.  I would be so worried.  Happy to say she is expected to recover!

Muroran - Day 2 - Monday

Monday we had a tour of the countryside, visiting Hell Valley (reminisent of parts of Yellowstone), a “Bear Park,” and Mount Usu. Although I loved the tour overall, the bear park was not my favorite stop as I felt they were just there to perform for the visitors.  It wasn’t a show or anything but it is clear they knew what to do to get the biggest kibble ever, sitting on their butts upright like a person and either lifting one big paw as if to wave or putting both paws together like they were praying. Essentially begging for food. It just didn’t feel right but the visitors were squealing with joy.

When thinking of our visit to Japan, I never thought about there being any natural beauty aspects to it.  I just thought of super-clean bustling cities with fancy toilets and tons of automation.  The countryside is lush, mountainous, and rather scenic.  We fell in love with it during the tour and thought, we may want to figure out how to spend more time in Japan than what we have scheduled.  If this is how it is going to be the whole trip - loving a place and wanting to spend more time there - we could be in for some hard decisions.

Lake Toya

Hakodate - Tuesday

Yesterday we were in Hakodate for the day.  We did not do a tour or excursion.  We took the free shuttle bus into town and wandered around.  

The first thing we did is find an ATM and get some yen.  There are 7-11s everywhere in Japan so we got money there and I bought a drink.  This was my foray into their crazy automation.  I went to pay and looked for the tray, my research told me would be there to put my money in.  It wasn’t there.  While there was a person behind the counter, just like every other 7-11, you didn’t give her the money, you put it in a machine that then gave you your change back.  Not too unusual but I was not expecting it.

The big draw in Hakodate was the morning market which was the cleanest market we have ever been to.  We saw the biggest green grapes, peaches, and apples I have ever seen in my whole life.  And they were beautiful and writing about it now, I could kick myself for not thinking to take pictures.

Hakodate Morning Market

However, the morning market took some shine off the glow I was feeling about Japan.  Before I tell you why, I have to preface it with a bit of background.  Sunday, as we were lounging around on the boat, I took the time to research Japanese customs.  I know their culture is so very different from ours.  So polite. So respectful.  I did not want to do anything to offend such thoughtful people. And I am fascinated by the bowing.

Japanese Customs

Some of the things I learned are:

1. No tipping. It is insulting.

2. When paying for something, never hand them your money.  There is a tray for the money, you put your payment on the tray, and they put your change on the tray.

3. No talking except for whispering on public transport.

4. There is a queue for everything, including taking pictures at typical tourist points. 

5. When you hand someone something like a business card, you hand it to them with both hands and the person receiving accepts with both hands and a bow (they bow for everything) and you NEVER write anything on it or simply toss it in a bag in their presence.

6. Personal space is very important to them - don’t touch them if you can help it.

7. There is a whole taking off your shoes thing that I will let you google for more information but apparently there are cubbies in restaurants and other public places for your shoes. And because of this, it is important not to have holes in your socks.

There are more, but those are the highlights and they give you a good idea about how structured their society is.

Cantelope is the New Koala (maybe not)

So here I am trying hard to be respectful, following all their rules so as not to offend anyone. We are in the morning market, oogling all their fruits and seafood. I see that the cantelopes still have their stems. I comment on this to Blaise who is walking in front of me, and reach over and touch the tip of a cantaloupe stem. A woman comes out of nowhere and starts yelling at me “No touch! No touch! No touch!”  She had on a medical face mask but I will never forget the hate an anger in her eyes!  No one has ever looked at me like that. Then she’s yelling at me in Japanese and pulls out a sign, two feet from where I touched that damn stem, out from behind some other fruit. After that she starts yelling at the lady in the stall across from hers and I know it’s about me be she shifts those angry eyes back and forth from that other lady to me. You would have thought I murdered someone.  Clearly I assaulted the cantelope. I am sure I am on a Most Wanted poster in Hakodate today.  I can’t ever go back.

The lesson - while I think Japan invented the term “polite society,” if you don’t follow their rules, the politeness ends and ugly begins.

And what did I get served at breakfast this morning in the main dining room? Cantaloupe juice. Not even kidding.

A street in Hakodate
Clean, clean, clean - everywhere

The Super Cyclone

Today we are at sea again, which was going to be our last day on the ship since we were scheduled to get off tomorrow in Tokyo.  However, yesterday morning before we got off the ship to explore Hakodate, the Captain came over the loud speaker and announced due to the “super cyclone” we cannot dock in Tokyo on Thursday, it will not be safe.  We are now getting off the ship on Saturday.

I think Royal Caribbean has done a good job at helping people navigate the problems associated with this change.  They let people off early yesterday if they wanted to get off the ship.  Rumor is about 400 people hopped off.  They are giving up to $200 change fees for domestic flights and up to $400 for international. They also gave anyone without an internet package 60 minutes free to change all their plans.  I do think 60 minutes may not be enough but maybe so if you have multiple people in your party and combine that time, you would be fine.  They extended internet packages for the remainder of the cruise for those who already had internet at no additional charge.  Lastly, they provided an extension of beverage packages at a reduced daily rate.

A couple of ridiculous complaints I’ve heard:  1) They should give us the extra 2 days of beverages for free since it is not our fault the cruise was extended. 2) There are too many retirees on this ship who don’t care if the cruise is extended.  For the first one, we all (the cruise line and passengers) assumed a risk traveling during typhoon season and I appreciate their willingness to make a tough decision to keep us safe even though it is a very expensive choice for them.  They are extending the package at a reduced rate so quit bitching about it. It’s not like you don’t have beverage choices without it.

Regarding the second one, really?! Not sure there is much to say about that one.

We made our arrangements to arrive in Osaka 2 days later. We had not yet purchased our train tickets so we were fine there.  We will leave for Bankok as scheduled on the 17, so only 5 days in Osaka.

There was so much to tell this time around and I feel like I am forgetting things.  If I remember, I’ll jot it down.

I hope everyone’s week is going well. Until next time . . .

 

Ending the Pacific Transit

 Kon’nichiwa!

Today is our last day of the Pacific voyage part of the cruise. This is the time I get sad on cruises - when I know we are at the tail end of the cruise and we have to look to getting off the ship. I know we don’t get off until next Thursday, but this is the end of the main part of the cruise - transiting the Pacific.

Japan, here we come!

Last 5 days of the Cruise

We overnight tomorrow in Muroran (near Sapporo) Japan, getting there about 7:30 AM. We spend Sunday and Monday in Muroran. Tuesday in Hakodate. Wednesday is one last sea day before we arrive in Tokyo on Thursday morning.

Tomorrow we will do Muroran on our own. Monday we have a tour scheduled where we will see some place called Hell’s Valley.  I get the impression it is Yellowstoney.

Tuesday we will do Hakodate on our own.  We found a website with information about the location.  They have a free shuttle to city center and buses.

These are not places we ever identified as destinations we had to see so anything we experience is a bonus.

I am a bit nervous about being able to read signs to get to places.  While I understand countries like Thailand and Vietnam are great about using English and their national languages on signs, Japan is not.  We might be using more private transportation in Japan than what we usually do.  We love to use public transportation when we travel.  If anyone has been to Japan and has some helpful hints, we would be ever so appreciative if you are inclined to pass them on.

One Week in Osaka for Medical Purposes

Once we get Tokyo (we’ll be back in the spring), we leave immediately for Osaka via train, where we will stay for a week when we will both take care of some medical procedures.  We are both fine and healthy; it is preventative.  Both of us will get coloscopies and I will get a breast MRI.

Why in Osaka?  Blaise found that there are locations in Osaka that do medical tourism. We are both due our coloscopies this year.  I tried to schedule mine back in March at home and insurance will only cover a colonoscopy once every 10 years even if pollops were found.  Well they found 3 non-cancerous pollops when I had mine 5 years ago so they told me to get my next colonscopy in 5 years, not 10.  It was going to be $2,500 out of pocket.  Then Blaise, the research fiend that he is (which I LOVE), found that we can do our coloscopies in Osaka at a reputable hospital for $153 out of pocket. SOLD!

I am also going to get my breast MRI done.  Last year I did some genetic testing.  I had zero markers for any cancers but because of my strong family history of breast cancer (on both sides of the family) my gynocologist recommended alternating every six months breast MRI/3D mammogram.  So I will get the MRI done in Osaka for just a few hundred dollars (can’t remember the exact price) and then in 6 months we will be in Kuala Lumpur  (also known for medical tourism), where I will get my 3D mammogram, along with bloodwork and a general physical. Blaise will have similar work done, not the mammogram though

What we have learned in our research (read Blaise’s research) is that the US medical system is no longer the best in the world for everything. For many cancer diagoses, it is still the best, but for so many other things, you can get better service at a better price elsewhere in the world, even without using insurance.  Think about it.  I can get a colonoscopy in Japan for $153 out of pocket, not using insurance at a reputable hospital.  It’s not like Japan is a third-world country.  And what we have found is in most places the medical personnel speak English, which if they didn’t, would be a big drawback for me, if not a showstopper.

I’ll report back on our medical experiences with this in Osaka.

(FYI, we do both have medical insurance. I had chatgpt help me find what will work for us being outside the US for the next 8 months.  It is also SO much cheaper than what I was paying for US only.  But this one gives us US AND international coverage.)

We also learned that the World’s Fair will be in it’s last days when we hit Osaka so I am hoping to see what that is all about.

Osaka is the third largest city in Japan at a population of 2.7 million.  They call their states or provinces, prefectures.  I just learned that one.

Osaka to Bankok Thailand

We will be Osaka for a week before flying to Bankok, which is currently in their rainy season which we hope will dissipate while we are there for a month.  More about Bankok later but we just booked the remaining of our stay there at an AirBnB. We have to have our exit of Thailand booked before we get to Thailand and request entry.  We can only stay 60 days at a time in Thailand.  I have a whole spreadsheet for entry and visa requirements for all the countries we are going to.

Keeping it Real

To keep it real so everyone doesn’t think this is all rainbows and butterflies - Blaise was sick with a headache all day yesterday and I have managed to develop a cough.  Shocking.  I feel fine; I just have a cough, which people around me LOVE! Blaise is back to normal today so far.

Then there is the laundry.  With Celebrity Cruises, we each get 2 laundry bags free.  We can stuff as much as we can in those bags and they are laundered for free.  Even on a 2-week cruise, we have never washed 4 bags of laundry. Back when we only had one bag each of free laundry I got really good at stuffing as much in a bag as humanly possible.  

Even though we only get one bag each on Royal Caribbean, I knew this was not going to be a problem. I was wrong.  When I read the small print, we can fit as much as we want in those bags but it could only be shorts, t-shirts, socks, underwear, and pajamas. Well neither one of us wear t-shirts unless we are working out so we only have 1 t-shirt each. No dresses, no pants, no skirts, no jeans. We’re screwed. We could have paid regular price for those things but that can get expensive so we are washing some things in the sink until we can get to Osaka.  First world problem, I know.  I am not bitching, just a bit annoyed.  Perhaps, I should have checked this earlier than yesterday.

I’m going to get going so I can enjoy the last sea day before landho.

Sayonara!