by Ryan Markiewicz | May 19, 2026 | Berlin's Wall
Our next stop in Japan was a seaside resort called Beppu. It is not a big city, more a getaway from the city, famous for the hot springs that come from the volcanic activity beneath it. There are hundreds of places to sit (naked hahahaha) in these hot springs that are supposed to be good for your body, skin, and overall health. Hallie and I were not really interested in seeing all our shipmates naked (Viking, as you can imagine, is an Older crowd 😉), so we skipped the “hell waters” and instead went to visit a park famous for Macaques, or Japanese snow monkeys.
They warned us about the monkeys being aggressive (and I’ve seen aggressive monkeys before. They snatch your glasses, jewelry, cell phones and then “barter” them back to you for food—no kidding). But these monkeys all seemed very tame and just wandered around between us. Nothing scary at all.
We also visited a place with 60 stone Buddhas carved into the mountains – think Mt Rushmore, only way smaller and WAY older 🙂 which was pretty cool to see.
Another very enjoyable day in Japan (and another 13,000 steps PLUS half an hour on the bike), so starting to feel it hahahaha. But tomorrow is Hiroshima, so we’ll do it all over again.
Onward!
Stone buddhas. Hundreds of years old.
Pretty amazing!
Guess which Buddha has the hardest head
Bamboo is a grass, Crazy how tall is grows!
Famous Japanese snow monkeys
Hallie wanted to bring one home 🙂
Some beautiful scenery 🙂
by Ryan Markiewicz | May 18, 2026 | Berlin's Wall
All,
Our first stops in Japan, on the southern island of Kyushu (one of Japan’s four main islands), were Nagasaki and Kagoshima.
Nagasaki is most famous, of course, for being the site of the second atomic bomb dropped by the United States to end the war against Japan, three days after Hiroshima. But the city is layered with history far beyond that.
It was one of Japan’s rare “windows to the West” during the years when much of the country was closed to foreigners. Dutch traders were allowed there. Christianity took root there. And tragically, it was also the site where 26 Christians were crucified in 1597.
We visited the famous Glover Garden overlooking the harbor, where Scottish merchant Thomas Glover once lived. Oddly—and somehow beautifully—the music playing through the gardens was Scottish bagpipes. I did not expect that in Japan.
Glover was sometimes called “The Scottish Samurai” because of his role in helping modernize Japan and his connections to Mitsubishi and Japanese shipbuilding.
We also attended a lunch where geishas served food and performed traditional dances. Elegant, quiet, graceful. Very different from anything in the West.
Kagoshima, meanwhile, feels completely different.
It is dominated by Sakurajima, one of the world’s most active volcanoes. We visited while it was steadily spewing white smoke into the sky. At one time, Sakurajima was actually an island, until lava flows connected it permanently to the mainland.
We also visited the home associated with “The Last Samurai,” along with some of the most beautiful Japanese gardens I’ve ever seen. Incredible craftsmanship and serenity.
Both cities are port cities. Beautiful. Clean. Quiet. Friendly. Exceptionally well cared for.
But the moment that struck me most happened as our ship departed each harbor.
In both places, a local band (one a symphony orchestra, the other a marching band) played music from the dock while hundreds of local residents stood waving goodbye and shouting warm farewells to the ship and its passengers.
I have traveled a fair amount and honestly cannot remember seeing anything quite like that before.
And there was something deeply moving about it happening in Japan specifically.
Many of the people on the ship are Americans—the same country that dropped the atomic bomb on Nagasaki. Yet today Japan and America are among the closest of allies.
And I noticed one older Japanese-American passenger quietly wiping tears from his eyes.
I think I understood why.
History does not disappear. But sometimes people can still find a way to move forward together.
Onward! -JB
The city of Nagasaki. Our ship in the background. Nagasaki was the 2nd city that was bombed using a nuclear bomb. Three days after Hiroshima in August of 1945, after which Japan surrendered.
The volcano
One of many shelters on this volcanic island, Sakurajima. It is where the 4,000 residents take shelter from the lava and rocks whenever the volcano erupts.
In front of the actual house of the Last Samurai!
Meeting a couple of genuine akitas
Cooling my feet in 112-degree water
A typical Japanese lunch
Lunch with Geishas
Hallie got her Ginger Baker on (sorry if you young folks don’t get the reference hahahaha) with the geishas at our lunch
In what was actually a very touching moment, a school band played concert music and bid us farewell in Nagasaki.
This is some sushi on our ship. That big fish, a yellowfin tuna, is real – and it’s spectacular 🙂
Always fresh fruit aboard
by Ryan Markiewicz | May 14, 2026 | Berlin's Wall
All,
Not that it really matters, but for some reason, it felt pretty cool being in Taiwan (Republic of China) the very same day President Trump was meeting in Beijing (People’s Republic of China) and largely discussing the issue of Taiwan. Hopefully, that all works out well.
Luckily for us, our tour guide today, Alumi (he said to call him Lu), was a former college professor and gave us a pretty good history of Taiwan—as well as a few laughs. Funny guy 😊
Being a political junkie, I knew a fair bit about Taiwan’s history from 1949 forward, when Kuomintang leader Chiang Kai-shek fled mainland China after Mao Tse Tung and the communist revolution took over. But I did not know much of the earlier history, which Lu explained to us.
Before the Chinese settlement, Taiwan was populated by Austronesian indigenous peoples related linguistically and ancestrally to peoples across:
- The Philippines
- Polynesia
- Hawaii
- Madagascar
- and many Pacific islands
In fact, many scholars believe Taiwan may have been one of the launching points for the Austronesian expansion across the Pacific.
The Chinese, though close by, did not heavily settle the island at first. It was considered distant, rugged, and partially outside civilization.
Later the Europeans—primarily the Dutch, Portuguese, and Spanish—established colonies there for trade and military projection. The Portuguese called it Formosa, meaning “beautiful island.” The Dutch built Fort Zeelandia, named after the Dutch province of Zeeland. And when Dutch explorers later discovered islands far to the south, they called them New Zeeland—today’s New Zealand. Interesting how intertwined history and cultures really are.
Japan took over Taiwan after the First Sino-Japanese War in 1895 and ruled it until the end of World War II in 1945. Then in 1949 it became the refuge of Chiang Kai-shek and the Republic of China government after the communist victory on the mainland.
Today, Taiwan is a very modern and prosperous country, home to much of the world’s semiconductor manufacturing. (No, duh—not Lay’s potato chips, computer chips 😊)
The main religion, as in Hong Kong, is Taoism, which Lu jokingly described using Bob Dylan’s lyric: “The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind.”
Taiwan is densely populated. Its land mass is close to Switzerland’s size, but Taiwan has about 23 million people compared with Switzerland’s 9 million. Taipei alone has 14 subway lines.
Lu also claimed there are still kamikazes in Taiwan—except now they drive scooters instead of flying Zeroes 🤣
Twenty-three million people and fifteen million scooters.
These bus tours can sometimes get pretty boring, so we were lucky to get a knowledgeable and funny guide. Being a guide is actually a tough job—herding 30 tourists through museums, palaces, hikes, buses, and bathrooms while constantly counting heads so nobody gets left behind.
So it cracked me up today when Lu walked around counting everyone before leaving a museum, paused, and finally announced:
“Close enough.” Maybe you had to be there, but it was funny as hell to me.
And while driving through the city, he pointed to one building and said:
“That is the best place to work. You get paid really well, and all you do is drink coffee all day.” It was the government office 😉
Anyway, a very fun day in Taiwan. Lots of pics below.
Thanks, Lu.
Onward to Japan! -JB
Lu
Rainy day in Taipei
The rainy season can’t spoil the fun
Grand Hotel. One of the top hotels in the world!
Another cool picture in the Grand Hotel
President Eisenhower was feted here in 1960
Taoist temple
Chinese lantern
by Ryan Markiewicz | May 13, 2026 | Berlin's Wall
A Taoist temple
A traditional fishing village
A giant statue of Buddha
Scaffolding in Asia is often made of bamboo
Some of the islands of Hong Kong
Hundreds of cranes like these at the port
Beautiful nature
by Ryan Markiewicz | May 12, 2026 | Berlin's Wall
Here is our cruise ship. Our cabin is the one with the window 2nd from the back. We expected something a bit more luxurious, but such is life, I suppose.
Going to explore Hong Kong for the day. This is an overview.
Big container ports. 20 million containers a year pass through here.
But that dwarfs the number of visitors to Hong Kong each year — 45 million.
A new airport and a bustling city. These are a couple of famous pics of how airplanes used to land at the old airport in Hong Kong “back in the day” 🙂
Looks like the ship has docked right into the city 🙂
“Only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun”, Noel Coward wrote after seeing colonial life in Hong Kong. Hot for sure. But cool too.
The British Governors are long gone, but they surely left a lasting influence.
Impressive city. Tonight we push off for Taiwan.
Onward! -JB
