Phillipine Sea 9th April

When we woke today we had the first blue sky of the trip and it was a few degrees warmer. There was also a moderate swell and a strong wind, so we were moving about much more.
Otherwise, time at sea is measured in meals. Breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea and then dinner. I had to wait out my sea sickness I the morning while Lynn went to a talk. After afternoon tea we did a few laps of the deck – it was fairly walm and the wind had settled by then.
As there’s not much else to say about the day, I have the space to make a couple of other observations. The cruise passengers are about half Japanese – I suppose it attracts a lot because it starts and finishes in Tokyo. That means that lots of the signs and menus are in both languages, as are many of the tours, and some talks are translated as they go. One set of our neighbours at dinner are Japanese and we communicate with their limited English, sign language, and occasionally Google translate.
Tomorrow we were meant to be at Hualien, then Keelung the day after. But there was a bad Earthquake last week centred on Hualien and many people were killed. So we’re spending two days in Keelung instead. That’s not all bad, as there is a night market there we couldn’t have got to otherwise.

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