March 26, 2017, Hong Kong, China

March 26, 2017, Sunday, Hong Kong, China

March 24, en route to Hong Kong. A quiet day at sea. So quiet that I have forgotten much of what happen on this day. Sandra went to an Insight Lecture by Squadron Leader John Peters speaking again about his experience as a prisoner of war in the First Gulf War. Sandra and I went to the second lecture by Roy Hunt, “The Life, Music & Times of Frank Sinatra.” The evening entertainment way singer Will Martin from Australia.

March 25, still en route to Hong Kong. John Peters does a question and answer session with the Entertainment Manager. Roy Hunt speaks on “The Life and Lyrics of Oscar Hammerstein II.” There was an Ice Carving Demonstration by the Lido Pool but we both missed the event. The evening show was the trio Belle Noir doing Ella Fitzgerald, Shirley Bassey and others.

March 26, docked at Hong Kong, China
Turned on the TV to listen to the Morning Show With Entertainment Manager, Amanda Reid. She always announces birthdays for that day. No program for this day, we are disembarking half the passengers at Hong Kong. Amanda never does the Morning Show on disembarkation days.

Sandra and I had decided not to do a ship’s tour today. Instead, we walked off the ship, walked to the ferry building, got some local currency and took the ferry over to Hong Kong Island. Once in Hong Kong proper, we followed the overhead walkway to the Central Bus terminal. With the help of a kind English speaking gentleman, we found the proper bus to the other side of the island. About a half hour later, we were in Stanley Market, the best of all possible locations for an avid shopper. The area has changed quite a bit from ten years ago. A lot of the open stalls have been removed and a large mall building has been built down the street. Even the open stalls have changed. Many of the stalls have an internet presence and will fill orders worldwide. Sandra bought a couple of linen tops at one of the stalls. After a bit of looking, I decided not to buy a bunch of caps. I still have several from our last visit ten years ago.

We stopped for lunch at the Pickled Pelican, a pub that we visited ten years ago. They are still just as good with great food and fine beer. We even got the upstairs seats by the window overlooking the bay. A lot of good memories for both of us. After lunch, we checked out the mall stores. We found one that was selling American goods including food and electrical appliances. I stocked up on a couple of boxes of Cheerios. It may get me through to Cape Town. From there, we went back to the bus stop and back to the other side of the island to catch the ferry.

Our ship is docked at the Kowloon side of the harbor. The pier itself is part of the Harbor City Mall, three levels of very, very, very up scale stores. It would take three days of shopping to do it justice and to see everything.

At 7:30 in the evening, everyone is aboard, and we have a thousand new passengers. This is truly a Hop-On, Hop-Off ship. The Captain works the ship out of the harbor while the city puts on a fabulous laser light show. A little later, we see the evening entertainment, Pingxin Xu, a master player of a 140-string hammer dulcimer. Unusual but very, very good.  

Star Ferry Terminal

Hong Kong Island

Kowloon waterfront from our balcony

Stanley Bay

The Pickled Pelican

A junk in Stanley Bay

The Hong Kong light show

March 23, 2017, Shanghai, China

March 23, 2017, Shanghai, China

The formatting of the next two entries will be messed up. I had a chance to up load a couple of batches of pictures using a better internet connection.

The two days before Shanghai were at sea days. A time to catch our breath, do the laundry, and just relax.

On Tuesday the 21st, we listened to three Insight Lectures. First, Squadron Leader John Peters talked about his experiences as a POW during the First Gulf War in 1991. The second lecture was by Roy Hunt talking about Cole Porter, his life and music. The third lecture was by Michael Hindley speaking about Korea, The Hermit Kingdom.

Wednesday the 22nd, was much the same with Michael Hindley speaking on China, Threat or Opportunity. The second lecture was by Roy Hunt presenting “The Lives and Music of George and Ira Gershwin.”

Finally, March 23rd and we are in the port of Shanghai, the largest city in China, the largest city by population in the world. Twenty-four million people live in the city. As one of our shipmates stated, there are more people in Shanghai than there are in the country of Australia. Shanghai was the second Chinese city to be opened to foreign trade.

Sandra and I decided not to take a ship’s tour. Instead, we took a shuttle bus from the pier into town. The bus dropped us at Huangpu Park, at the conjunction of Huangpu River and Suzhon Creek. The park is between the river and “The Bund” the old part of town where foreign businesses were first located. It is still the location of the biggest banks and business in the city. From this side of the river, you can see the world famous Oriental Pearl TV Tower and other tall buildings on the other side of the river. The Monument to the Peoples Heros is located by the river’s edge in Huangpu Park. It honors all the Chinese, Red Chinese, that made modern Shanghai possible. At the base of the monument, there is a circular wall with the history of twentieth century China carved in granite.

We walked along the river bank until we spotted a bank. ATMs are a great way to obtain local currency in foreign lands. We then just walked around the city taking in all that was happening. We stopped in one building that had a number of clothing stores. On the second floor, we found a pizza restaurant. One of the waitresses spoke excellent English and we had a very good lunch of a Lamb Pizza. We did some more walking around before walking back to The Bund and finding our shuttle bus. Another 45 minute ride and we were back on the ship.

The night’s show was the Cunard Singers and Dancers in their production “Palladium Nights.” At ten in the evening, we slipped our lines and headed down the river for the sea.

The Monument to the Peoples Heros

The Oriental Pearl TV Tower and others

Huangpu River

Peoples Monument

The skyline again

Russian Consulate

The hotel across from the consulate

March 20, 2017, Kobe, Japan

March 20, 2017, Monday, Kobe, Japan

Around the ship, this stop is known as “Kobe Two.” We were here a week ago, dropped off about 900 passengers, most from Australia and New Zealand. About 900 Japanese boarded the ship for a seven day cruise around three of the four main Japanese islands. Now, we are disembarking those 900 Japanese and boarding a different group of Japanese for an eleven day cruise to Singapore. This sounds all very complicated but it is the way the cruise industry works these days. It also puts a strain on the crew and in some ways, a strain on the passengers going all the way through to Southampton
.
This was an easy day. We did not book a ship’s tour today. Instead we took the shuttle bus into town, it is a short ten minute ride to the largest department in the city. Across the street is the start of one of the largest covered arcade shopping streets. The arcade is about eight blocks long, we walked all of it. Also walked back on the street one block over from the arcade. Took the shuttle back to the pier. The terminal has a number of shops and vendors selling t-shirts, hats, sake, postcards and stuff. Nothing was of great interest to us, so we went back on board the ship.

I think we spent the afternoon doing our laundry.

The Kobe Market Street with QE banner

The Welcome committee at the Kobe Pier

March 19, 2017, Kochi, Japan

March 19, 2017, Kochi, Japan
   
We are at the port of Kochi, Japan on the island of Shikoku, the smallest of the four main Japanese islands. The city is the capital of the Kochi Prefecture. This is a last minute change to the ship’s itinerary. We were schedules to cruise the Inland Sea.  However, the fishing fleet was also scheduled in the area at the same time. The fishing fleet trumps a cruise ship, at least in Japan. On the other hand, the city gave us a grant welcome with the pier lined with drum groups, a school band and a good part of the local population.

We were provided with a good city map, a lot of city information, and a bus shuttle to the city. We took the shuttle. It was a great decision because we went through three tunnels in our thirty minute ride to the city. Like a lot of cities, they have put a bridge over the main channel to the city and our ship is too big to go under the bridge. We are docked at the new container port closer to the ocean.

Our shuttle took us to the main bus stop in the city. Very close to the main covered shopping arcades in the city. Sandra was still looking for more tops, so the first hour was spent in women’s clothing stores. At lunch time, we stopped at a small coffee/lunch restaurant. Lunch included a small cabbage salad, a main plate (fried rice or curry rice) and tea or coffee. A very inexpensive but very delicious meal.

We walked the length of the arcade and ended up in front of the Kochi Castle. This building was built in 1603 by the founder of the city and strong man of the area. The castle was destroyed in the great fire of 1727, but was rebuilt in 1748. There are more than 100 steps to get to the entrance of the castle. We opted for a view from the bottom.

We took a different way back to the bus station. We followed a street that was setup as The Sunday Market. Again, a lot of everything that can be sold. At one end, there were antique dealers with some neat stuff. Next to them were the hardware stalls with every type of knife made in Japan. Too bad airport security is so diligent. The ride back to the ship was another 30 minutes of seeing the sights.

The pier was still crowded with bands, vendors and folks enjoying the show of a big ship in the harbor. At 6:30 P.M., in the middle of dinner, we set sail and pulled out of Kochi, a very nice port that Cunard will use more often in the future.

Coming into Kochi Harbor

Crowds everywhere

Flags waving

And the band

Old men working hard at being old men

The founder of Kochi

Kochi Castle

Another view of Kochi Castle

March 17 + 18, 2017 Hiroshima, Japan

Itsukushima Shrine

Another view of the shrine

Torii Gate

Itsukushima Shrine

Sandra and a building back of the shrine

"Wild" deer

Just a pretty picture

March 17 & 18, 2017, Hiroshima, Japan

March 17, Friday at sea headed for Hiroshima. The high point of the day was an Insight Lecture by General Lord Dannatt. His topic was “The Tower of London - Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow.” After retiring from the active British Army, the general took on the position of Constable of the Tower of London. His presentation was a look at life in the Tower of London from the perspective of the Constable and those that live and work there. A number of stories about his six years in the position and the Beefeater personnel who guard the Tower of London.

March 18, Saturday Hiroshima. We are in port at a proper international pier with all the bells and whistles. We booked a ship’s tour to Mijayima Island. We tried to get the tour that takes you to the island by a  Vintage Cruise ship. Unfortunately, that was sold out so we took a more modern but less exciting ferry to the island. Sandra had been to the island years ago with Valerie, a day when I was under the weather. At the island, we walked with our group to the Itsukushima Shrine, a shrine that is built out over the water of the Inland Sea. The literature says that it appears to float on the water at high tide. We caught it at a low tide so it appeared to float on a mud flat.

However, all is very impressive, especially the Torii Gate which sits in the sea opposite the shrine.  I took a lot of pictures. We then walked around the main shopping area, seeing the sights, looking at the “wild” deer at are protected on the island. They are ready to eat anything they can find. I lost a corner of my island map to one of the deer. After a couple of hours wandering the island, we took the ferry and then the bus back to the ship.

We were not ready to call it a day. We took a shuttle bus to the YouMe shopping center that is about three miles from the pier. We did some serious shopping. Sandra was looking for a fancy top to wear on formal nights at dinner. She finally found just the right jacket in one of the stores. We spent a total of two hours in the mall before taking the shuttle back to the ship.

The rest of the evening was quiet. Just dinner in the Britannia restaurant and a show in the Royal Court Theatre.

The vintage boat to Mijayima Island

Our view of the bay

Our boat to Mijayima Island

Our guide in action

Another way to see the sights

Torii Gate

March 16, 2017, Busan, South Korea

March 16, 2017, Thursday, Busan, South Korea

Today, we are in Buson, South Korea, the largest port in Korea and the second largest city in Korea. I was up when we entered Buson Harbor and watched as we came through the breakwater. It was about that time, I realized that I was looking at a United States Navy aircraft carrier with a full deck of aircraft. The carrier, the Carl Stennis, was in port. A few people were a little apprehensive, since a Chinese aircraft carrier was visiting North Korea at the same time. We passed the Stennis and end up docking at a container port a ways out of the main part of the city. A pier closer to the center of town was occupied by another cruise ship.

Sandra and I have another ship’s tour scheduled. The first part to a Buddhist temple up in the hill and the second part to a shopping district in the city. Our bus took us well out of town and up into the hills to the Beomeosa Temple. The temple is approached by crossing an arched stone bridge over a mountain stream. Beomeosa is renowned for its magnificent main hall, seven royal palace wings, three gates, and eleven heritages. One shrine is a large boulder with a message carved into the rock and a small pool at the base with water flowing out of the base of the rock. For me, the most interesting parts were the workmen replacing the roof on one of the buildings. The roof rafters were in place, and the men were adding a layer of bamboo on top. The final layer was to be ceramic tile held in place with mortar.

The second part of the tour was a stop at the Jagalchi Fish Market, Korea’s largest fish market. It has an amazing variety of fish, shellfish and exotic seaweed on sale. It was all very interesting, a lot of fish in water in small tubs, a lot of shellfish and any number of places to eat in the middle of all this fish. There was no dividing line between fish sales and fish eating. By the way, all the floors were wet and slick. After the tour of the fish market, it was off to the other side of the street to a more varied shopping mall. Sandra spent our half hour in this market looking for some new items of clothing. Our half hour was up with no luck in the quest. Our tour went back to the ship which was on the far side of the harbor.

In the middle of early dinner, the ship pulled away from the dock and we proceeded out of the harbor. Our destination was a two-day voyage to Hiroshima, Japan.

Busan Harbor in the distance

Entering the breakwater

US Carrier "Carl Stennis"

Beomeosa Temple

Gate to the Temple

Inside the Gate

Decorations on the Gate

Main Temple

Another part of the Temple

Men working on a roof replacement

Boulder with carvings

Below the boulder

Cherry Blossoms

Seaweed vendor at the fish market

More fish

Local high speed transportation