August 1, 2025
We recently returned from a 10-week cruising vacation in Asia. It looked like this, a roundtrip from Singapore to Singapore aboard the Silversea Whisper.
I won’t go into a cruise review, suffice it to say that we took the Whisper on a five-month world cruise two years ago and we would say that at the margins, the quality has slipped. To be sure, the staff was as terrific as they always are on Silversea. But we wonder if the ship shouldn’t be retired. No, we don’t wonder, it should be. I mean, I retired from my career, so why not a ship?
Nine countries, 38 cities, many of which were a one day visitation. If you are considering an extensive trip through Asia, here are some general comments I hope can help guide you.
In general, it is divided into what I’ll call Northern Asia and Southern. In the South, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines. We did not visit Cambodia. Singapore aside, those countries seem to carry the same basic characteristic. An immense mega city sucks up the wealth and industrial activity of the country, most of the country is rural, given over to agriculture and small villages. So, for example, Thailand has a population of 71 million, Bangkok and its surrounding areas, 17 million. Malaysia, 35 million, Kuala Lumpur and its surrounding areas, 9 million. To be sure these countries are more than these cities, but you get the general idea.
The cities themselves are crowded. Manilla for example boasts the highest density of any area in the world clocking in at an incredible 119,600 people per square mile. As you would expect the streets are teeming with activity, but not as noisy as you would think given that population crowding. And in all those countries, motorbikes are the vehicles of choice.
In what I’ll call Northern Asia (China, Japan, Taiwan, Korea) you have heavily industrialized societies. With obvious wealth as a result, even as you get the same city dominance of the country. As an example, it is our opinion that Taipei boasts the highest concentration of shopping anywhere in the world. In just one area, 13 different malls, most of which are multi story…up to a dozen floors. You can go into a shopping mall and on one floor, there is a golf equipment and clothing shopping mall (mall within the mall).
Taipei is wealthy, and the people there appear to be happy. I do not believe there is a lot for China to offer Taiwan as an encouragement to merge. Thus, tensions will continue. Why does the United States have an interest? Geopolitics and competition with China aside, 60% of the world’s semiconductors are made in Taiwan. Should that be ceded to China? Should we wonder that the government is pushing hard for new semiconductor manufacturing in the United States?
Korea, very impressive. It was touching to have Koreans thank us for the sacrifices of the Korean War. They do believe that were it not for the United States (and the UN forces), they would not today be free. If you ever listen to a person trying to convince you that a Communist-style dictatorship is the way to go, show them this picture of North and South Korea, taken at night.
Yeah, I want to live in the North…
Japan, gray dominates the skyline. All those big cities (Osaka, Tokyo…) look very corporate. Evidently, you can color your building anything as long as it is gray or beige. Refined and cultured, if you like to party like a rock star, maybe not your destination of choice although I have little doubt you can find all the mischief you want in Tokyo.
People often talk with envy about how Japan is run. It was our impression that it is run the way it is because they are exclusionary in immigration.
Roughly 1-point-something percent of their population is immigrant. They rank below countries like Switzerland and Argentina in raw numbers. They have a homogeneous population.
Example: We were told if you are in a Japanese electronics store, and they don’t like your looks, they will ask you in Japanese what you are looking for and if you can’t answer in Japanese, they will escort you out. I personally don’t find homogeneous populations interesting or where I want to live, just to be clear.
Osaka has an incredible aquarium. The biggest I’ve ever seen, and I’ve been to 70 or so countries. You can watch Japanese divers hand feed whale sharks. I have never seen that before. Guy swims up to them, food in hand, sticks his hand down the gullet, they gobble it up, rinse and repeat.
Wife: “Hikari! Don’t forget to wash your hands before dinner!”
China, a separate case. The only city we visited was Shanghai…25 million people is hard to get your brain around. But it had it’s weird moments. For example, in the middle of the day, the streets were essentially deserted in the central area. We were told that everyone was in the office working. But at rush hour, it can take you three hours to travel a small distance, so dense is the traffic as people pour out.
You could feel the hand of the police from the moment you stepped ashore. In many countries, passport control is pretty much a casual formality. I mean you’ve got a luxury liner filled with older Americans, Brits, Aussies and Europeans…they’re not particularly concerned about drug smuggling from that crowd.
But China was different. We were required to take a color photo of our passports and leave it with the immigration authorities. You handed them your real one and the picture. Two or three officers peer at it closely, making sure of whatever they were making sure of. Then, they keep the copy. I’m sure I’m in some kind of database in Beijing. And then on the streets. Cameras were everywhere. I mean as many as three sets of them at a single intersection. They are watching everything.
We had Starlink Internet on the ship. As soon as we entered Chinese waters, the Internet was blocked. The only Internet we had was a Chinese network. Seriously, I mean you get it.
What I did find surprising was the willingness of more than one Chinese to express their dissatisfaction with their life. They work, their spouse works. They are responsible for taking care of their kids and themselves, but then also, their spouse’s parents and their own. They find it hard to get ahead, hard to be on that constant grind. I wonder if unrest is closer to the surface than one might assume.
But you could just feel the dull wet blanket all around and I personally was not sad to leave. I was in Hong Kong 20 years ago, its still Hong Kong, but it didn’t have the jump it had when I was there last. Vietnam is mostly the same, just more crowded but also, better developed than 20 years ago. The Vietnam War is now 70 years in the past, there is no obvious animosity residual toward Americans.
Can’t say that about Japan, which is still held in contempt in Korea and especially the Philippines.
And Singapore was lovely and well-ordered, as you would expect. But here’s a shocker…80% of the population lives in government assisted housing. We didn’t expect that.
Michael and I are both enthusiastic and experienced travelers. We have learned that travel includes the raw side of life…it should not be painted as a Disney event. It can be gritty and if that can be upsetting to you, be careful in your selections for travel. And we roll with the punches, as all world travelers have to do if they are to both experience and enjoy the trip. At 3am, with the South China Sea rolling in upset all around you, yes, you can regret having had anything to eat before bed. I don’t suffer from that, but a lot of people do.
And the shore excursion brochures inevitably over sell shore excursions. They have a language and code all of their own and experience teaches you to master it.
“Bustling” means hot and sweaty and crowded.
“Igniting your senses” means there’s probably not a lot to recommend the area. The only time my senses were ignited were with various hot peppers around the continent. As a corollary, the brochure writers do a lot with senses…Ignite them, Awaken them, Elevate them. I imagine people should suffer from Sensory Overload, but of course they don’t.
“Factory” means you’re going to be sold local manufactured goods, so if you go, say, to the local pearl factory, think jewelry store.
“Soak in the culture” means you’re going to wander around without effect in a desperate search for something interesting to say/do.
I think in general, the longer and more ornate the language, the less you will see. I mean, if the excursion is to Notre Dame in Paris, what do you have to say about that to get people there?
Two other aspects in closing. First, we never had an episode with food. We ate on the ship, we ate street food, we ate at restaurants in the mall. They turn food over quickly, no problems. I know everyone knows someone who had a bad international food experience, I can say we never have. However, definitely exercise care with drinking water.
Second, I can say that we have spent a great deal of time in international vacation over our lives (270 nights on cruise ships alone). And in Asia, we had the same experience we had everywhere else…People were kind, welcoming and we never had a single moment when we felt threatened or put upon.
So, there’s your whirlwind trip through Asia. We checked all the boxes we wanted to check, I’m guessing we won’t be going back, but if the choice is a week on the Rhine River or a week in Bangkok, it’s not a fair fight.
