Happy St. Patricks Day my Irish friends and family! We even celebrate out here on the Yellow Sea.
Never mind the boiled beef they passed off as corned beef. Everyone is Irish today- even Yudi our Butler from Malaysia- O'Yudi we called him all day. Yes poor Charlie jumped ship in Manila....he mumbled something about he couldn't take any more of the Boca. So Bubbs is running around the ship with his lime green "Hawaiian " shirt singing "Coming Through The Wire". A sight for sore eyes for the Filipino wait staff. Naturally, like father like son- Pleep at least had the right shade of green on singing Danny Boy. I hid under the covers most of the day reading about the Yellow Sea. Pleep used to call our swimming pool by that name when the kids were little.... The Yellow Sea is an arm of the North Pacific of the East China Sea located between China and Korea. It is connected to the East China Sea to the south. It has a maximum depth of 500 ft . Huge quantities of sediment are discharged into the Bohai Gulf by the Yellow River in China. Bohai, Korea Bay, and the Liaodong Gulf are its major inlets. The Huang He, Huai, Liao, and Yalu rivers empty into it. South of the Korean peninsula, it becomes the East China Sea. As you can tell by the map we are chugging to South Korea, the Port of Inchon- then in to Seoul. Yes, we can just about touch Japan. While the sun is bright the air is cool and crisp- a glorious day to be cruising.
Korea – South and North Korea, respectively is a territory of East Asia and a region in northeastern Asia that was formerly unified under one state, but now divided into two separate states. On the North- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) and The Republic of Korea (South Korea). Located on the Korean Peninsula, it is bordered by China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the east by the Korea Strait and the Sea of Japan (East Sea). No nuclear drift over please.
Korea was one state until 1948, when it was split into North Korea and South Korea. We are talking a major league split......
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| North Korea Flag |
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| South Korea Flag |
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea, is a free market, democratic, and developed country, with memberships in the United Nations, WTO, OECD and G-20 major economies. North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, has a centrally planned industrial economy, with memberships in the United Nations, ISO, Non-Aligned Movement, ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), and other international organizations. At one point in their history, Korea's isolationist policy earned it the Western nickname the "Hermit Kingdom". By the late 19th century, the country became the object of the colonial designs of Japan. In 1910, Korea was annexed by Japan, becoming part of the Japanese Empire, and remained so until the end of World War II in August 1945. In 1945, the Soviet Union and the United States agreed on the surrender and disarming of Japanese troops in Korea; the Soviet Union accepting the surrender of Japanese weaponry north of the 38th parallel and the United States taking the surrender south of it. This minor decision by allied armies soon became the basis for the division of Korea by the two superpowers, exacerbated by their inability to agree on the terms of Korean independence. The two Cold War rivals then established governments sympathetic to their own ideologies, leading to Korea's current division into two political entities: North Korea and South Korea. Could we call this a PROXY WAR? Hey didn't George Heidkamp serve in the Korean War??? Oh, now it's clear why it's still screwed up!! Well, he did get all those South Koreans drinking Budweiser though....go Geo!
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| Yin and Yang |
We are looking forward to our tour of the DMZ and the 3rd Tunnel tomorrow. The Captain made Bubba promise he would not wear any of his camo outfits or do any special "saluting" with his middle finger as he heard Bubs did this on his recent trip to Vietnam. A stern talk with the Pleep reminding him no "monkeying" around in the DMZ. Pleep said not to worry as he was bringing his favorite flag....
REFLECTIONS ON CRUISING
Without a doubt, the absolute best part of cruising is being with the friends you've made and meeting new ones! I feel like I am at adult sleep away camp. So nice to not think about DUI. We have cruised for years and have met many dear friends on ships. Pleep mentioned something about birds of a feather flapping their wings together...yup. The beauty of the longer cruises is that you have time to get to know the person- their ailments, their rotten kids, their eating disorders, why they want to beat their husband, why they can't stand their sister in law, business bloopers and then there are those other people with the perfect kids, husbands, figures, face lifts, perky you know whats, those are the people we don't talk to.
Happy St. Patricks Day my Irish friends and family! We even celebrate out here on the Yellow Sea. Never mind the boiled beef they passed off as corned beef. Everyone is Irish today- even Yudi our Butler from Malaysia- O'Yudi we called him all day. Yes poor Charlie jumped ship in Manila....he mumbled something about he couldn't take any more of the Boca. So Bubbs is running around the ship with his lime green "Hawaiian " shirt singing "Coming Through The Wire". A sight for sore eyes for the Filipino wait staff. Naturally, like father like son- Pleep at least had the right shade of green on singing Danny Boy. I hid under the covers most of the day reading about the Yellow Sea. Pleep used to call our swimming pool by that name when the kids were little.... The Yellow Sea is an arm of the North Pacific of the East China Sea located between China and Korea. It is connected to the East China Sea to the south. It has a maximum depth of 500 ft . Huge quantities of sediment are discharged into the Bohai Gulf by the Yellow River in China. Bohai, Korea Bay, and the Liaodong Gulf are its major inlets. The Huang He, Huai, Liao, and Yalu rivers empty into it. South of the Korean peninsula, it becomes the East China Sea. As you can tell by the map we are chugging to South Korea, the Port of Inchon- then in to Seoul. Yes, we can just about touch Japan. While the sun is bright the air is cool and crisp- a glorious day to be cruising.
