Tuesday, 11 February 2020—Kelang, Malaysia

It is all messed up. The Corona virus has altered just about all our plans and many other people’s as well. Although Neil and I will not be able to stop in any anticipated Asian ports, the anguish caused for many others is far more extreme. For example, my brother, who had a Fulbright Scholar year teaching in Suzhou (between Beijing and Wuhan), has had his year suspended. He has been recalled to the United States. So, for us, we just sail around some more.

Our next port will be Fremantle, Australia, with arrival scheduled on the 18 February 2020. Unless we are in port, we have no internet—so that is why our communication is so spotty. It is difficult to answer all your questions as our access time is so limited. Yet we appreciate hearing from those who are following us.

And yet . . . we have plenty to occupy ourselves. Each night we gather for a two hour or so meal with our tablemates. Believe it or not, I am the baby of the table—besides Neil (the editor) of course. We have seven people at our table besides us. Two couples are from New York state and we also have a New Jersey couple who have transplanted themselves to Florida. The last guy is a widower from Canada. One couple, the Peters are on their 12^th world cruise—which seems to be to be a lot. We have spent a lot of time with these folks and it has been exceedingly enjoyable. On a funny or ironic note, the only person at our table who wants to talk about American politics is the Canadian.

In addition, Neil works out in the gym some and I walk around the 7^th deck as my busy schedule permits. I have been reading a lot and have finished Heart of Darkness (Joseph Conrad), The Stranger (Albert Camus), One day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (Alexander Solzhenitsyn), Dave Barry’s Only Travel Guide You’ll Ever Need (Dave Barry), and Love in the Time of Chorea (Gabriel Garcia Marquez). Now I have poured myself into a 1000+ book, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich (William Shirer)—one of my father’s all-time favorite books. Neil has loaded about 150+ books on my Kindle reader, so I think there is little danger of me running out of reading material. It is first-rate to be able to read for a good portion of my time—when I can work it into my busy schedule.                                 

It looks like from our new itinerary (and this changes, of course, from day to day) that we will spend quite a bit of time in Australia which will be wonderful. We miss everyone, but so far everything is going well—except the Corona virus. We are about 1/3 of the way through our excellent adventure! See you soon.

From your friends,

Neil (the editor) and David

Note from the editor: Not many pictures this time due to avoiding Asia, but more to come in Australia.