The exchange rate $1 equals 1.03 Australian dollar.
Friday night we attended a World Cruise Senior Officers Cocktail Party. Our table of 8 then ate with Captain Bates & his social assistant at his table. He’s a very personal, interesting, and humorous person. He just married last May 9th and plans on retiring this August.
Today we rode the tender in to Whitsunday that was a 30 minute ride. We walked and enjoyed the town and the beach. The return tender was on a much larger boat and we had a conversation with a nice young fellow that is a tour guide who gave us some tid bits of information. A very good day.
We’ll arrive in Auckland, New Zealand approximately 7:30A.M. Thursday (1:30 P.M EDT Wednesday). We now are advancing our time 1 hour the next 3 nights before we get to have some 25 hour days retuning home.

February 25, 2010 Rabaul, New Guinea
The exchange rate $1 equals 2.79 KINA
The last two days were mostly uneventful. Tuesday our table joined a few others for a sing-a-long of old folk’s songs. Yesterday the Equator was crossed and many Pollywogs were initiated and became Shellbacks. We saw dark colored dolphins a few times. Just relaxing & having social days. We woke early today and stepped out on the balcony to see where we were and could already smell the ash in the air. After a leisure breakfast we grabbed the tender for a short ride to shore. We walked on volcanic ashes nearly 7 miles to and through Rabaul. Very interesting and it makes you appreciate our way of life, where we live, and what we have! Some of the volcanoes were steaming, but not spitting lava. After a late lunch we stood in a queue for passports again.
We’ll arrive in Whitsunday Island, Australia about 6:30A.M. Sunday (3:30 P.M EDT Saturday).
We’ll then be the in Great Barrier Reef.

February 22, 2010 Guam
From New York to Guam we’ve traveled 19484.8 & it’s day 49.
Money is US Dollar.
Yesterday we attended a lecture by Dr. George McGavin on “To the ends of the Earth: biological exploration and discovery” followed by the film “The lost land of the volcano”. This film was very interesting and will or was on the Discovery channel. His first lecture was on bugs and his second was on poo. Believe it or not the lectures were funny, informative, and interesting. I missed his other presentations.
We woke up before 6, got ready, and stood in a long line to go through immigration. We were lucky as before the queue started to move the queue was 3 to 4 times longer much like L. A. last year.
We took the 40-minute shuttle ride to a Hyatt Hotel. From there we enjoyed the “Under Water World” aquarium and then to the Hard Rock Café & purchase the last guitar pin this trip. We just walked & looked around until we found a K-Mart to purchase a few items. We returned to the Hyatt where there are several pools. We worked our way to the beach. Guam is pretty & nice place, but once is enough.
After tomorrow the cruise will half over.
We’ll arrive in Rabaul about 8:30A.M. Thursday (6:30 P.M EDT Friday).
The internet was down again the first the three times I tried to update the blog.

February 19, 2010 Yokohama, Japan
From New York to Hong Kong we’ve traveled 18135.4 & it’s day 46.
The exchange rate $1 equals 83.63 Yen
Yesterday at lunch I lost part a tooth eating a hamburger (it wasn’t the food, but a bad tooth). After breakfast we rode the shuttle for about 40 minutes to the Post Office. We walked more than 7 miles getting Hard Rock Café guitar pin #6, going up to the 69 floor of Landmark Tower (Japan’s tallest building), through Nissan’s corporate headquarters, and Cosmo World (an amusement park with the largest ferris wheel, a water log ride, and a unique roller coaster plus many other rides). Yokohama is a beautiful city with many sky scrapers, more than ample road system, and fairly clean with friendly people. Jan is doing laundry again.
Tonight we’ll advance our clocks 1 hour. That will be 15 23-hour, 2 23 ½ - hour, and 1 25 hour days.
As long as we’re Japan’s territorial waters we can not use the internet. There been problems with the internet service much of the time, hence making it hard to update the blog.
We’ll arrive in Guam about 6:30A.M. Monday (3:30 P.M EDT Tuesday).

February 17, 2010 Nagasaki, Japan
The exchange rate $1 equals 83.63 Yen
Nagasaki means “long Cape”. Today was a wonderful experience. This is the first time the ship docked in a in a non container port. The temperature was about 50 F and mostly sunny. We bought an all day tram pass which was good as to the number of times we got on and off. The Hypo-peace Park is hard to describe the significant and beauty the park is with memorial statutes for USA, and many other countries from all parts of the world. We also stopped by the Atom Bomb Museum, Nagasaki National Peace Memorial Hall. The Urakami Cathedral and the Peace Statue are in the park and other interesting sites are in the area. Back on the QM2 for lunch, and then back off. We walked through China town to Glover Park and Confucian Shrine.
We back onboard in time to attend the inaugural ceremony held in the Royal Court Theater. Four of the QM2 officers were presented with flowers and gifts from the city of Nagasaki and Captain Bates gave plaques of the QM2 to the mayor and other dignitaries. This was followed by children from a local nursery sang and danced. The girls were dressed in traditional Japanese kimonos and the boys in Samurai outfits. They were well rehearsed and did a beautiful job for 4 & 5 years olds. The program was closed by 2 women doing a portion on Madam Butterfly opera. The women and the lady pianist did well but we’re not opera fans.

February 15, 2010 Shanghai, China
The exchange rate $1 equals 6.83 Yuan
The excursion took us for a ride on the famous Maglev Train (which reached a speed of more than 400 km/hour, nearly 267 miles/hour) to & from the Pudong Airport. We completed the excursion with a visit to Jinmao Hyatt Building (an 88-floor skyscraper) and enjoy the view even though the Burj Dubai is hard to top. This is our last excursion since canceled the rest after our Viet Man experience.
In the evening before the ship port there was great program by a local group of youths. They sang and dance; performed acrobatics, and juggled.

February 10, 2010 Vung Tau (Phu My), Viet Man
The exchange rate $1 equals 27,564 Vietnamese Dong
The ship’s tour took us to the National History Museum which included water puppetry (neither were impressive), Notre Dame Cathedral, the Reunification Hall (once the Presidential Palace where April 30, 1975 marked the end of the Viet Man War. We did have an enjoyable meal that took over 1 ½ hours (twice the time needed). We were to have up to three hours of walking but got less than ½ hour and half of that was at the lunch hotel. The tour office told Jan we would ample time to do what we wanted as we would be in the area, hence no Hard Rock Café pin. We spent 80 to 90% of the time including forever riding through China Town. We complained to the tour office to no avail.

February 8, 2010 Laem Chabang, Thailand
The exchange rate $1 equals 30 Baht (Thai Baht)
Yesterday we attended multiple lectures in the Illuminations plus I watched the silent film “Safety Last” starring Harold Lloyd. Whenever we attend a lecture in the Illuminations we think of the 3 ladies from last year’s cruise.
Last night we ate dinner in the Chef‘s Gallery for Indian cuisine to celebrate Jan saying “yes” to my proposal 46 years ago. The Chef‘s Gallery is by reservation only. The chef demonstrated the preparation of the first 3 courses of a 4 course meal and each of us received a copy of the recipes.
Today we awoke turned our TV to ESPN coverage of the Super Bowl (the score then was the Colts 3-0). We went to breakfast at half-time and watched the rest on the big screen in the Illuminations. Later we took the free shuttle to the Siam Bayview Resort Hotel In Pattaya. Jan got her Hard Rock Café guitar pin quickly (#5; she had already got the pins at the last 2 ports on prior trips) and we walked along the beach looking for the Buddha Temple unsuccessfully. Last year we went to Bangkok from this port.
Tonight our table of 8 ate at the Chef‘s Gallery for French cuisine. Very good & entertaining, but too much.
The ship’s internet service has been down a great deal; therefore making it very hard doing emails, facebook, and updating the blog. Thanks for your patience.

February 6, 2010 Singapore
The exchange rate $1 equals 1.41 SGD (Singapore Dollar)
The free shuttle took us to the Harbourfront Centre/Singapore Cruise Centre Coach Bay. As we
walked the large, pretty, and clean mall we met 2 guys from the states operating 2 Wind Spinners kiosks. They gave us advice on what to see & how plus help with money exchange. Following their advice we took monorails to Sentosa Island. The island is under a massive construction which will soon include a Universal Casino, more hotels, rides, etc. in addition to the beaches, small space needle-like ride, gardens and much more. We like to come back and recommend it to families with kids.

February 5, 2010 Port Kelang/ Kuala Lumpar, Malaysia
The exchange rate $1 equals 3.40 RM
We took the free shuttle to the Bukit Tinggi shopping mall. The mall is very big, modern, and clean. We mostly walked the 3 floors and visited many stores, but bought very little. Very enjoyable. We got back for lunch and then Jan did laundry again.

February 4, 2010 Penang, Malaysia
The exchange rate $1 equals 3.40 RM
Advance our clocks 1 hour again
The pin we got today, of course has a story. In checking the map of Penang, the Hard Rock appeared to be too far and hard to get to on foot. Once off the ship, we worked our way through the offers of taxis. They really did not want a short trip just to the café and back, so we took up a nice English speaking driver to see some sites and be out about three hours. The driver was an excellent tour guide as he guided us through several Buddhist Temples, including the largest relining Buddha. We also went to a park where we saw up close monkeys; one with a baby. There was also an eagle circling around. There was also a beautiful orchard's greenhouse. Our last stop before the Hard Rock was a Batik silk painting company. It was awesome to see the process and how much is done free hand. So on to the Hard Rock; it was a nice drive along the coast with many very expensive condos and hotels along the way. Once there, the first thing we saw was a large statue of Michael Jackson. The next was the manager welcoming us. He followed us into the rock shop and asked if we were the people who collect pins. We did not recognize him, but he had met us last year in Bangkok. The Hard Rock in Penang had just opened in November and he was transferred to open the new café. He offered us drinks and proceeded to give us a tour of the restaurant and hotel. It has rooms that you have the swimming pool off of your patio. It is a beautiful location on the beach with at least 6 or 7 interconnecting pools. He said to come back and to let him know when we reach 100 pins. He also gave us a Hard Rock lanyard; even better than the one we got at Yankee Stadium. We had lunch on the ship and then took the free shuttle to the shopping mall (not the most desirable place, but we got in some steps). Later we enjoyed the pianist, singer, and comedian. One of the best we’ve seen on cruises. We finished the night in the Golden Lion pub playing Liars Club.

Yesterday, February 2nd, we advanced our clocks again 1 hour making us 12 hours ahead of home and therefore approximately ½ around the world.

February 3, 2010 Phuket, Thailand
The exchange rate $1 equals 30 Baht
Getting the Phuket the Hard Rock Café Guitar pin was very simple. The ship did not go into port, but used tenders (life boats) to get us ashore. The area that we were taken to was continuous beaches. Once on shore, we stopped at the first large hotel and secured a map and directions. We were very close and it only took about a half hour to get to the Hard Rock Cafe. It is located at the Marriott Hotel. Once we purchased the pin and looked around, we checked out the street shops which sell everything. We then walked the beach and then headed back to the ship.

January 30, 2010 Cochin, India
The exchange rate $1 equals 46.29 Rupees.
The port was substitute to Cochin instead of Bombay (Mumbai) for the second consecutive year causing Jan to miss another Hard Rock guitar pin. We walked approximately ½ mile to Taj Malbar Hotel. In that brief walk we turned down more Tuk Tuk drivers than you can on your fingers & toes plus a few taxi drivers. Most speak very good English and are personable. Last year we saw the life of Slum dog Millionaire with a wonderful guide doubling as a Tuk Tuk driver. This year at the hotel we experienced the opposite side of life. Jan checked out the spa, and then we met some fellow passengers and shared beer and relaxing conversation. The hotel facilities were very beautiful and elegant.
While we were gone other passengers saw dolphins put on a show accompany by a whale. Oh, we saw flying fish a few days ago. We did see them last year, but thought they were birds.
We advanced our clocks ½ hour before entering Cochin and again after leaving.
Yesterday, February 2nd, we advanced our clocks again 1 hour making us 12 hours ahead of home and therefore approximately ½ around the world.