March 10, 2023 We sailed into the Philippines on March 7, 2023 and then spent a few days touring around the country, traveling to 2 islands in the archipelago. The first was Palawan where among other things we visited a Philippine Penal Farm where minimum security prisoners put on a show for us. Kind of […]

March 8, 2023 We sailed into what is officially known as Brunei Darussalam on March 5.  Brunei is one of the smallest and statistically richest countries in the world. It has only about 450,000 residents with an estimated per capita GDP of about $75,000 for 2022. For rough comparison purposes, U.S. per capita GDP for […]

Bali and Surabaya March 3, 2023 We just spent several days in Indonesia on Bali and Java islands.  On Bali Island, among other things we visited  Denpasar, the capital city of the region. We stopped into  Tohpati Village a section of the city; had a coffee break by a rice paddy, and visited the Royal […]

February 26, 2023 Darwin Australia Darwin, with a population of about 150,000, is the capital city of the Northern Territory in Australia. The city houses the majority of the residents of the Territory—a territory that is Australia’s version of the Wild West. It has a reputation as a hard drinking party town, although that has […]

Cairns, Australia February 20, 2023 Finally we arrived in Australia. Cairns to be exact. We were supposed to go on an overland trip to the Outback and Ayers Rock, but that didn’t pan put so we booked some tours for the ports we would be visiting, starting with Cairns.  We decided to go on a […]

February 18, 2023. When we arrived at Papua New Guinea (PNG) the morning of February 18, 2023 we went (briefly) through the town of Alotau. The town has a population of about 30,000 (according to our tour guide) and it seemed like everybody was in the town center, largely because it was Saturday and time […]

Vanuatu 15 Feb 2023 We have just spent 2 days in the country of Vanuatu, which is comprised of 13 principal islands and many smaller ones. It is approximately 500 miles west of Fiji and 1100 miles east of Australia.  Vanuatu’s was subjected to colonial rule by England and by France, after which England and […]

After crossing the International Date Line on February 9, we stopped in Fiji, officially known as the Republic of Fiji. It is an island country in Melanesia and a part of Oceana  in the South Pacific. Fiji is an archipelago consisting of over 300 islands, with slightly more than 100 of them inhabited.  Democracy in […]

Tuesday, February 7, 2023 Well, here we are in Pago Pago, American Samoa.  Located on the island of Tutuila, Pago Pago is the capital city of American Samoa. Officially known as Territory of American Samoa, it is an unincorporated territory of the United States. And as we just recently discovered, Pago Pago is not pronounced […]