Ngaire, I loved the story about Luke! What a special dinner that must have been for him as well. From vacuuming carpets to destinations manager is such tremendous growth for him. We were fortunate to have dinner with the destinations manager Ricardo, and after talking to him I am impressed with anyone who does that job. The amount of behind the scenes work that job takes is unbelievable. We were told how in some ports they go out ahead of time and brief guides on subjects that shouldnt be discussed, i.e. politics. In some places they go out and fumigate or spray the busses for scent, bad air or small insects like nats and such. I had no idea they did these things. I think it would be fascinating to spend a day with the destinations manager on a port day. Up early checking on the busses, getting every bus in order of tour, signage, the right guide, etc. Then getting all the passengers on the right busses on time. The logistics seem mind boggling when you think about it. Plus, RIcardo's knowledge of the ports! Ask him about almost any port and he can recite from memory what is there, how long to get to the sights, shopping, etc. Just absolutely mind boggling to me.

Cindy, Loved the picture of your dinner! You are so right....for all the touring and such, sometimes the dinners and the staff are the best memories. We were hoping they would have an auction to benefit the crew fund but they didn't. We talked to one staff member about the crew fund and he was just in tears, saying how much it meant to him that it paid for his flights home and back when his brother died.

I have a picture or two of our dinner I will try to send to Karen to post. It was so special to us and them as well I think.

We are in Beijing and the Hilton and it is such a wonderful hotel close to an enormous mall. As it is a holiday weekend the mall is packed. Consumerism is alive and well here that is for sure. Experienced some Chinese road rage here this morning when our taxi driver and another driver got into it. The taxi driver had the right of way and I think if we hadn't been in the car, they may have come to blows, but other wise, given the massive number of cars, the drivers are very polite. I suppose road rage is everywhere these days.

This is our fourth time here in Beijing and it is still surprises me. Just Marc and I wondering around today by ourselves! A far cry from our honeymoon when I was such a novice traveler..... We took a cruise out of San Juan and when we got to the hotel before the cruise, Marc said "lets go out and explore" I said "No, we are in a foreign country!" Look how far I've come!!

Now back relaxing at the hotel. We need to repack as I was under the weather the last day on the ship and left Marc with all the packing. As we brought everything from snorkel gear (Red Sea, Thailand) to winter coats, boots and long underwear for Harbin we really need to repack and sort thru everything. Poor Marc just made sure to get everything in a suitcase so some major reshuffling is going to be necessary! I am so looking forward to Harbin. The last few days I reread Ngaire's post about it and so excited to get there I can hardly stand it!