Greetings from Vladivostok

Tuesday, September 29, 11:30pm Ship time, 8:30 am East coast time

We had a beautiful day in Vladivostok which is the capital of the southeast asian region and the Pacific termination point of the Trans-Siberian Railway, the longest continuous rail line in the world. The stations here and in Moscow, the other end, are the same. It takes seven or eight days to get to Moscow by train, 7 hours by air. It is cheaper to go to Alaska by way of Moscow, Zurich, New York then Alaska (the long way) than from here to Korea to Alaska.

That's our ship, Diamond Princess, in the background.

The population is 700,000, not counting Chinese workers. Teachers snd doctors are not well paid. Women retire at 60. Men at 65.

In Vladivostok cars drive on the right but cars have the steering wheel also on the right. Many cars are from Japan. But we drive a lot of Japanese cars in the U.S. and the steering wheel is on the left. They buy used cars from Japan, where they drive on the left.

There are very few traffic lights here. At big intersections, cars trucks and buses just muscle their way through as there are not stop signs either. Traffic moves slowly. Maintenance is also an issue. At home, when a road is repaved, manhole covers are raised. Not here.

Steps to the "Eagle's Nest" viewing area are crumbling.

And if you don't like your kids, let them play near the railing.

We visited a submarine and being tall would present many head banging opportunities and the beds would be too short.

The periscope really works.

We visited a few churches and the Regional Historical Museum with really ugly fish and other creatures, old books, a live cat, big old guns, hidden steps to trip every visitor and more. We asked our tour guide if there were Jewish people in Vladivostok and she said she did not know any. She had lived abroad in Ocean City, NJ and visited NYC, Phila., and Washington DC.

Fancy Bus.

There was an old beggar woman outside a church. One of our group gave her some money and a younger woman (her pimp??) came and took it from her. I was not able to catch that action on camera.

We are at sea tomorrow and set the clock back an hour tonight. We have not had two days in a row in the same time zone yet.

Next stop: Busan (Pusan), South Korea.

Regards,

Steve & Laurie