The Dam Ship

The cruise is almost over and I have not said much about the ship.  It is a relatively small ship with 1400 passengers and 600 crew.  The crew is mostly Indonesian and Filipino and would say that this is the most Asian crew members I remember on a ship.  I also feel the majority of  the crew has been the most kind and gracious.  My room is around 180 square feet and I have a window but it is partially obstructed.  If I look a little to the left I can see out.  It is on a promenade deck, so people do walk by but is also nice that I can go out on it, as it is very close.  The bathroom is big and has a bathtub, which I like, especially if I have gone to the beach. 

In general, the ship seems pretty dated.  I believe it was launched in 1999 but seems a lot older.  They are doing a a touch up in the spring and it needs it. I like the library area, they have Eames chairs that I have used to read or use a computer. 

There is a small pool on the back deck, which I think is the nicest place on ship.  There is also a kind of indoor pool with a sliding roof.  All the older passengers congregate there and I have dubbed it "heavens waiting room."  I don't hang out there. 

I joined the Green House room at the spa, which has a hot tub that should be called a warm tub, a steam room that has no steam and hot ceramic lounge chairs that feel great on your back and legs.  I like to go there before dinner, listen to my ipod and relax.  It also has a spectacular view.  It is my Oasis.

The food has been pretty good especially dinner in the dining room and breakfast.
They have an eggs benedict bar with your choice of ham, salmon or spinach.  That is unique.  Lunch is very fair but they do have great huge shrimp from time to time and they are as good as your get anywhere.  I have ordered room service quite a bit and that is such a nice thing to have.  They have ice cream with waffle cones but I have never had it.  For the first part of the cruise, I ate everything now I am off sugar, bread and dairy.  I want to get in good shape.

All in all, I like the idea of traveling on a ship rather than the idea of a vacation.  It is a throwback form of travel and appreciate the old world sensibility and a bit of romanticism.   I love the motion of leaving a port and  I love being on deck and looking at the sky and the ocean.  I can never get enough of that.

Barefoot In Fiji

I spent two days in Fiji.  It was not that long ago that they had cannibals here and the joke was, "not Chinese again tonight."  It is interesting that most of the islands have a significant Chinese and Indian population.  In Suva Fiji I got a taxi and went to a rain forest and waterfall.  The men here are really fit and everyone seems friendly too.  There were a lot of young people swimming at the waterfall/watering hole.  Most wore regular clothes when swimming.  Maybe they don't have bathing suits here.  I hiked through the rainforest with my Taxi driver and eventually went for a swim in one of the cool pools under a small water fall.

The next day we went to some what of a deserted Island.   It was a bit of paradise, i had a 20 minute coconut oil massage by a native for $10.  It was nice and then I walked down the beach and went in a few times.  The water was surprisingly cool.

I bumped into a few people i knew and they had mentioned climbing to the top of the Island mountain.  I love to hike as long as I don't have to sleep outside too.  I tried to find  a path through the brush and found myself in a bit of a pineapple farm.
I had only my flip flops on and decided it would be easier to walk up barefoot.  Sometimes, interesting places call for interesting decisions.  I walked up and passed other tourists along the way who assured me there was cold beer on top.

Another hiker offered me $50 for my bottle of water so I figured that was not true.  After stopping once to catch my breath, I eventually made it to the top and took in the spectacular view and took a 360 degree picture. 

On the way back I bumped into my buddy Brian again, who had some how found a tire in the water, leave it to him.  We went back to ship by lifeboat.

Mc Donalds In Samoa

The weather has not been very good on the whole cruise.  There have been many more rainy and over cast days than sunny.  When I got to Samoa it was raining and all I wanted to do was to find fast internet.  I asked about a particular cafe at the port and was told this place was far and had been nocked out by the tsunami.  After some exploration around the main drag, I found out that Mc Donalds had wireless internet.  I went to the counter and asked and they told me that I needed to get a card back in town.  I also asked if they had the grilled chicken sandwich and the girl looked at me as if I was crazy.  No salads at this Mc Donalds.  I then asked someone working on their computer, how to get online and he told me I don't need the card and I can just login and give my credit card.  Mission accomplished, it worked and was fast.  Although the ship has wireless internet, it is slow and expensive and I also have internet on the Blackberry but it is slow and intermittent.

I got on line a proceeded to try out my latest gadget the Magic Jack.  I bought it at Wal Mart for $39.95 along with a cheap telephone.  It plugs into your USB port it is a combination of software and phone jack.  You also have to sign up for it over the internet.  I have my own telephone and voice mail that goes directly to my email.  Just the voice mail in your email is a great thing in and of itself, to be able to listen to messages from your email. 

I plugged in the phone and immediately got a dial tone.  I dialed my parents but nothing happened, I then realized the software needed some attention and I pushed a few buttons on the computer and voila, I was able to dial.  The connection went from clear to static and back and forth.  Seems like cell phones have static but I would need more experience with this.  Any way, I made a few calls and then back to work. 

I started to get the blog together as well as loaded up my pictures on Flickr. .

While walking back to the ship, I bumped into my friend Bryan and took the above picture.  The Samoans are friendly and happy people and they don't take tips.  And just lets say, I will not be selling a lot of tiny bikinis here.  I would like to come back here one day. 

Semester At Sea

The young man pictured here is my student.  Thus far he has not had any detentions but he has been a bit slow doing his assignments.  His name is JJ, he is from Saskatchewan, Canada. I'm not sure how old he is but I'm sure he qualifies for a senior cup of coffee at Mc Donalds.  By the way, I am teaching him photography.  We are still working on how to review pictures taken.  For my troubles, JJ has rewarded me with honorary Canadian citizenship, in the form of a Canadian
lapel pin.  He also gave me a small tripod from Wal Mart.

I had always thought of myself as a student but now as a teacher I have a new perspective.  Don't stop learning and don't stop teaching.  We all have something of value to teach to someone else.  This is really heightened aboard ship with such a mixture of people from different places.

Not sure if he's going to make Dean's List though.

The Great Equator

The Great Equator

As we passed the equator from the northern to southern hemisphere,  I contemplated the predicament.  If you live on the equator, there are no seasons.  Every day is the same 12 hours of sun and 12 of night.  Sunrise and sunset are at the same time.  Then I thought, what if you stood on the equator and straddled it.  You could be in two places at once, both in the northern and southern hemisphere.  How can this be?  It is a physical law, you cannot be in two places at once.  This is a conundrum that has been debated from the beginning of time.  The duplicitous concept of the one versus the two.  The New Testament says, "One cannot serve two masters," and it also says, "Man cannot live on bread alone."  Akiba said, "If I am only for myself, who am I ?"  But, Judaism says you can only worship one God.  What am I getting at here? 

How to be?  Can we be wholly devoted to something,  a job, marriage, family, religion, political party, hobby, a  football team or ourselves?  How can we choose between one or the other?  How can we hold two thoughts at once? Can we be totally devoted to something yet not be blinded by our ambition?

A wise man named Marv once said, "don't tell me what someone is doing wrong, tell me what they are doing right."  But he also said, "don't underestimate the stupidity of people."

There may not be an answer to the question of one or two or a right answer between two choices.  But at desert the other night, I could not decide between the chocolate cake and the chocolate souffle and I decided, why not have both?

Effortless

In the rain, but undercover, I sat on a bench by the Aloha Tower in the port of Honolulu waiting for the model to pick me up.  It had not rained in Honolulu for 4 months but on the day of my shot it did.  I had been there since 2 and it was after 2:30 PM and I was worried she would not show. Finally she arrived but the rain did not stop.  She was a lovely Asian girl named Justine and we ventured east to the beach and hopefully no rain.  It is a plan of my trip to shoot along the way and utilize the exotic locals.   The rain subsided and as we reached the coastline the Oahu shore became apparently rustically beautiful.   We were headed towards a secluded beach at Waimanola.  But as we came around the bend, it was apparent it was raining up ahead so we stopped right where we were.  It was not exactly what I was looking for but it was a perfect fit for the girl and the Poko Pano swimwear Click on the link to see the photos. She took to it like a fish to water.   I brought my bathing suit along as I found my self shooting in the surf and afterward I was able to take a quick dip, which was heavenly.  Click on the link to see the photos.  We talked about the shoot and I mentioned that I like to let the model go rather than pose her as I that is how I get the best results.  Although, I am not controlling what the model does, I feel like I am in total control of the picture.   Later we chatted about the fashion industry and she mentioned she loved the designer Stella McCartney, who happens to be Paul McCartney's daughter.  She said that, McCartney refers to her designs as "effortless."

That word perfectly described the day.  The swimsuits were brought to me at the ship by the Poko Pano rep in Honolulu, Alessandria, who I need to mention was extremely kind and sweet.  Then a model picked me up, took me to the beach and dropped me off back at the ship.  Although the rain, the time and the traffic were obstacles the day and the shoot can be described as "effortless."  Thanks Justine for a great day and new mantra.

To see photos from shoot click here.

Think It, Say It, Plan it, Realize It

I decided to rent a car in Kauai, it was our first stop on land.  The ship skipped Maui as early on the cruise, we had to retreat as a passenger became Ill and needed to be evacuated by helicopter.  I drove through the country side en route to a blow hole.  The ride was more interesting than the destination and I took some amazing pictures of the interior of the Island.  When I arrived back on ship I was hungry, grabbed some food and sat at the bar on the back of the ship.  There was an empty stool at the bar and guy around my age, who I had bumped into a few times sat down.  Long story short, he is a life coach and lives in LA.  He is a cruise enthusiast like myself.  He took me to a place on the back of the ship, right below where we were and told me this is where he meditated.  See the photos!   I told him about how it was life coach I had a few years ago, helped me decide to take this trip.  I was reading a couple of interesting books, one was the "The Four Hour Work Week" by Timothy Ferris.   This is a great book on how to manage your time and life in a more efficient and fulfilling way.  One of the suggestions is to take mini retirements when you are young.  The point is to enjoy travel and have it part of your life, rather than to do it at the end of your life.  The other book I was reading was called "How To Be Idle" and the premise was how to cultivate and use idle time.   This philosophy goes against standard American norms of working and being involved in activities.  It extols the virtues of rest, hanging out, conversing, having tea (I already did that one) and meditation. 

On that note, I explained to Bryan, the life coach that I just met that I had lost the capacity to meditate.  His response was, in true life coaching speak, "You say you have lost it, if you keep thinking this then you will have lost it."  I told him that I thought this type of positive speaking was hokey but I would entertain the idea.  He mentioned that what you think and what you say become what is.  We talked about books a bit and I had mentioned I brought with me the "Artist Way,"  he said that he wrote morning pages (basically 3 pages of free flow thoughts in the morning that are a tenet of the book).  As the sunset on Kauai, I realized that I thought about this trip, wrote it down in my morning pages, I talked about it, I planned it and now I had realized it.

To see pics click on link

Seattle

I arrived in Seattle at 12:30 AM from Chicago.  I had a four hour layover in Chicago.  My friend Clovis met me at the airport and we had dinner and I showed him my pics of my travels to Portugal, Spain and Israel.  The cab that picked me up in Seattle could barely hold all my luggage.  The cab driver was Indian and I found out the cab was a Prius by looking at the unique dashboard.  He told me they get around 45 miles to the gallon, need little maintenance and you can drive them for 600,000 miles and counting.  I knew nothing about them.  You do not plug them in but they have a very large battery the is constantly recharging.

The next day I went to Pikes Market, took the monorail and walked around.  I had to do some last minute banking, which took a lot of my time. 

The people in Seattle were friendly.  The women were nice looking with very healthy skin and looked healthy in general.  The men had a lot of beards.  By the waterfront there were people who I would describe as poor and unkempt, hanging out.  They were all Native Americans.  

The food was pretty good and I am sure if I inquired more, there was great food to be had.  The northwest is known for great food.

The next day I tied up loose ends and took a taxi to the ship.  The taxi arrived late and when I got to the ship, it looked like they were closing up and no one seemed to know where to tell me to go.  My ticket said a 4PM departure.  I got there a little after 2PM and boarded the ship around 2:20.  The ship left a little after 3PM.  The information on the ticket  was wrong.

I have a flicker account.  Please photos of Seattle there. http://www.flickr.com/photos/29795088@N07/sets/72157625123798676/

Black and White

I took this photo on top of the Space Needle in Seattle (click on it to enlarge).  It is actually several photos stitched together in PhotoShop.  I brought with me a book on Photoshop and a CD tutorial so that I can improve my use of the program considerably. 

I have not taken any black and white photography for a very long time and between the Photoshop and Lightroom programs, they allow me to create stunning black and white images.  I will explore this further.

On the topic of black and white, my blog will not be about one thing but will be free flowing.  I will discuss my travels as well as photography, video, movies, books, art, health and philosophy.  It will be a diary of sorts but I will also suggest and philosophize. 

Getting back to black and white.  The Dalai Lama says that there are no black and white situations.  Nothing is 100% good or bad.  They are degrees of each other.  In that respect, it is important not to get too down when we feel failure or a negative situation or in the same respect, not to be too egotistical when we succeed.  What we think belongs wholly to us is only a partial ownership.

I saw the Dalai Lama speak in central park several years ago. On a news note, the Dalai Lama has contributed to, my alma mater the University of Wisconsin, a study on the benefits of meditation.

As I travel east, I delve into the great world that I am a part of to realize more of what is and what I am.