The Cruise Ship

Taking pictures on the ship was discouraged, so these are official publicity shots. Most of these areas, except the casino, are featured in the book.

These pictures are probably a lot more interesting if you've read the book, so you should just buy it.

Go ahead. I'll wait.



The main lobby/shopping mall
This area was very crowded at the beginning of the cruise
And practically empty for the rest of it



We had more meals in the main restaurant
Than anywhere else on the ship
I thought we would eat at more of the other restaurants
We tried them, but always came back to this one



Some of the main swimming pool area
We spent a lot of time here
The exercise pools are in the opposite direction



The ship had a few theaters
But this was the main one
It really was this red



This was a nice little quiet room most of the time
A good place to get away from the hustle and bustle
Except during the big bridge tournament
And when all the older people were out on the town



The Chinese restaurant looked like any banquet style Chinese restaurant
And nothing like the typical restaurant that a billion Chinese people eat at every day
The food was pretty good, but Ryan never ate there



The ship was big enough for them to give everyone a map when we checked in
But they still had directories and maps all over the place



We spent almost no time in the casino
I don't think I even mention it in the book
We looked at it and went on our way



The library was comfortable and almost always empty
And had a better variety of books than I expected



You really don't get a sense of how big this ship is unless you see it in person
It's hard to believe you're on a boat when you go up and down the elevators



This is just a publicity shot
But one of the shows had traditional dancers
Including some very good Thai dancers

Typhoon Soulik

Typhoon season started off with a bang this year. The first reports were that a super typhoon was coming toward Hong Kong. Then came the good news that it would slam into Taiwan before hitting Hong Kong. Good news for us, at least. Not so good for Taiwan.

Then the typhoon turned north and they said it wouldn't hit Hong Kong at all, but it was still going to slam straight into Taiwan.

After it tore through Taiwan, it went straight for Fuzhou. Ryan said he saw people preparing like never before, which doesn't really make much sense since the storm lost most of its power after it went through Taiwan. It hit near Fuzhou, but it was much weaker by then.

Hong Kong got a lot of rain, but it's been raining off and on for about a year anyway.

Xiamen part 2

The highest peak on Gulangyu, which is not at all easy to get to
Even from the bottom you can see all the people struggling to be the first to the top



Nanputuo Temple



Hubin North Road, Just north of Bailuzhou Park
This was close to the American grocery store
What's exceptional is how few cars there are on this road



The temple at the base of the mountain on Gulangyu

Publishing Hoops

Nudist Cruise has been out for a week and it already went to #22 in one of its categories. I can't believe it.

I don't generally pay much attention to sales figures, but I might look into it from time to time when a new book is out. Hailey's Bali Diary went up to #4 for about a minute, but that was after it had already been out for a while. A friend told me the new book will sell faster because there is nudity on the cover, but Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other sites have plenty of books with a lot more nudity. Some of the covers are more graphic than I thought they would allow.

I don't know how I feel about that. The cover doesn't have nudity to make it sell faster. It's there because it goes with the story. The cover for the Bali book has nothing to do with the story, but this one is more representative. Naked or not, I like the Bali cover better.

I'm not doing this to make money. If you want to make a lot of money, don't write books. There are far too many other books for far too few readers. If Stephenie Meyer writes another vampire book, it will be in every bookstore and on every website. Most of us will never get that kind of coverage. I suppose that's the way it should be, from a business perspective. Retailers make more money from the blockbuster franchises. They will never make much money from anything I ever do.

I don't mind the fact that I'll never be an international bestseller. I'm not even a writer. This isn't what I do. What I write isn't everyone's cup of tea, just like those vampire books aren't for everybody either. I just think it would be better if the people who would want to read it had some way to know that it exists. Every bookstore would make far more money if they promoted more than just the top seller. It's like movie theaters that only show the same five movies as all the other theaters and then complain that people don't go out to see movies anymore. Hundreds of movies are made every year, but you would never know it if you only looked at your local theater.

Bangkok part 2

The Grand Palace
Definitely not closed that day



On the Skytrain
Less crowded than usual



Lumphini Park
A great place for a morning jog or tai chi



Some of the many Buddhas at Wat Pho
Everyone goes to see the big famous Buddha
But there are plenty of other Buddhas all over the place

4th of July 2013

Hailey’s Nudist Diary

I have another book out. Feel free to buy several copies. It's not actually called “Hailey's Nudist Diary”. The first one was
Hailey's Bali Diary because of the blog title. Both of those titles make sense. This blog is almost like my Hong Kong diary. At least that's the way it started out. The Bali book is told almost in a diary form.

The Cruise book is a little different. There's nothing diary about it. I didn't want to put my name in the title. It just would not sound right.

Nudist Cruise isn't the greatest title either, but at least you know what you get.

Shanghai

The old side of Shanghai
This was right in front of the boat



The new side of Shanghai
This was right across the river from the boat



Pudong



The Bund

Xiamen part 1

Nanputuo Temple



Nanputuo Temple



Yungdangnei Lake
Bailuzhou Park



One of the old mansions on Gulangyu



Gulangyu is a mix of old buildings and new surveillance