Travel Blogging IX

Dateline: Naha, Okinawa. It is a pleasant winter day in far southern Japan. Winter is often the most pleasant in sub-tropical climates. I'm sitting in a Starbucks with the other DrC drinking tea and using the free wifi. You can really see the influence that 60 years of U.S. troop basing here has had. Many signs in both English and Japanese, quite a few people with at least some English, and you see non-Asians driving cars and generally "around."

To be sure, the locals aren't entirely pleased with the U.S. bases but they have added a lot to the local economy. I suspect most towns outside military bases have very mixed feelings about the troops. Face it, young men drinking and hanging out in groups are a risky proposition anywhere and when they are of another race, as they are here...even worse. And some of the local young ladies are attractive, too. I suspect the reaction to garrisoned Roman legionnaires was the same in Britain and Gaul.

We are nearing the turn-around point of this trip - Shanghai. Then we run it back the way we came, in mostly the same fashion mirrored. For us the cruise ends when we get back to Bangkok, about 18 days from now. These two cruises back-to-back will constitute the longest cruise we have so far taken, some 32 days. By the end I will be ready to spend some time on land.