Day 60 At Sea toward Taiwan

Well we are now at day 60. It seems to have gone so fast. Today was the typical sea day with my usual routine.
It has been an interesting experience to have seen so many new places and glimpsed into the lives of the peoples from these countries. There are stark differences between how we live and what we take for granted and the way some of these people live. I would put Australia and New Zealand on par with the US. Slightly behind I would put Singapore and Hong Kong and a little behind them Bangkok. Then I would place the Society, Cook and Polynesian islands next. Finally, there is Cambodia and Viet Nam.
What separates these countries from each other in my mind is the quality of life and their infrastructure. In Cambodia and Viet Nam it appears to be a day to day existence for most of the people. There is a growing class of white collar workers but they are in the minority. Then rest of the people are organized into family units where everyone works and they all live together. I can't imagine that they are able to foresee any changes in their future. There does seem to be investment in the education of the children but it was impossible for us to tell how effective that is and what that prepares them to do.
There is a distinct feeling of personal responsibility that each of these people has. They know that they must make it work for themselves. You don't see any over weight people at all. They seem to be a very industrious lot and could get much done if there were more mechanization and things were done on a larger scale. Unfortunately, that would put a lot of people out of work and create bigger problems. So they are relegated to continue to utilize their manpower in inefficient ways.
A little rambling about perspective as we prepare to see Taiwan tomorrow.

Chris - "Where's the sun!" This is the first day in a very, long time that it has been cool. It was very overcast and got cooler as the day wore on as we're headed north. I did spend my morning reading and enjoying the air and water out the back, but after walking, spent the rest of the day inside. For the first time I actually went to some of the activities, besides trivia, that happen around the ship. I wandered through an "everything $10 sale" heard the tail end of a jade talk and lost a few dollars at the "dicey" horse racing. Looks like I'm STILL not lucky, guess that doesn't change with age. I even swam for an hour in the covered solarium pool, as my normal pool was way to cold with the wind. Certainly a little different than the other sea days where I spend the entire day outside, usually toasty warm in the shade. It still was a nice opportunity to unwind after two full days of sightseeing. I'm looking forward to Taiwan tomorrow.