Singapore to Japan Cruise - March 2024 (part 2)

Our next stop was Hong Kong, and the sail-in was quite something .We passed island after island of tall, tightly packed, dark green trees. As we passed each island a new one would emerge from behind it. Until suddenly one island was different. It still had the trees, but there was a quaint little fishing village at the shoreline, and pretty boats bobbing in the harbour. And then we moved on a little further and my jaw dropped as a huge city of towering skyscrapers appeared. From a distance at first I thought I was imagining it and they were tree trunks.

We were in Hong Kong for two days so on the first day we took the free bus from the port to a large shopping centre. Like so much in the city this is built upwards, and was seven or eight stories high. It's always fun seeing shops in other countries and we enjoyed looking at the interesting things on offer. The food court confused us until a helpful person explained that you order at one central booth, they send the order to the restaurant, and then you go and collect your food. There wasn't very much which was vegetarian and I was determined to have genuine Chinese food in China, but I did eventually find a tofu dish which I quite enjoyed. Tofu is something I'm not hugely keen on, and in fact we learned during this break that it's at its best when used as a dessert.

Hong Kong puts on a light show in the evening and we were staying overnight so we were able to watch the skyscraper lights as we ate dinner in the restaurant. Apparently there were better views of it from elsewhere in the city though.

The weather forecast was poor the next day so the children opted to stay on the ship (it's always fun to have the ship to yourself) and Roderic and I braved public transport. The first bus left while we were still queuing to get on it (because they stick rigidly to the timetable) but the second came along only ten minutes later. We then took the Hong Kong underground system to find our way to where we could get the hop-on-hop-off bus, often the best way to see a city if you don't have much time. I was feeling pretty confident when we headed into the station - after all, I use the London underground often, and we'd used the Singapore metro with no issues - but our Applepay failed to open the barriers. It turns out Mastercard isn't accepted. A helpful staff member took us to a cashpoint to take out some Hong Kong dollars and then buy a ticket. We tried to explain to him where we wanted to go, but apparently not very well, because when we got there the barriers wouldn't let us back out again as we had the wrong ticket. We hunted all over Central station for a staff member to let us through the barriers, but by the time we found one we were at the wrong exit and had quite a long and complicated walk to where we could find the hop-on-hop-off bus. 

Tickets were expensive - £60 each - but the hour-and-a-half ride took us all round Hong Kong island including Aberdeen and Stanley, both very beautiful and well-to-do areas. We sat on the top deck and so when the drizzle started and the wind picked up we were quite thoroughly frozen. 

Hong Kong, like Singapore, is a very densely populated area so they've built upwards, but skyscrapers here seemed very narrow and haphazard. It's very hilly and the roads were often raised and wrapped round the buildings, so that at one stage our bus drove past what seemed to be the eighth floor of a block. Hong Kong didn't have the architectural elegance of Singapore but I expect we weren't seeing it at its best in the rain and from a bus.

We considered getting the ferry back to Kowloon but we were running out of time so we went back to the station and were able to return to the ship without any issues. 

I'm going through the ports we visited, but in between there were sea days. I really enjoy sea days, because on the whole I don't get seasick (although poor Grey does, and spent a lot of time in bed) and there are lots of fun things organised. I loved the solarium best, the indoor pool area with a warm, saltwater spa pool, two hot tubs, and a cafe. I also spent a lot of time on sea days at Cafe al Bacio in the middle of deck 5, a lovely space with unlimited free cakes, where I mostly worked on my latest novel. I actually finished it on this cruise. There was lots of entertainment and live music on board, but I didn't bother with any of the theatre shows as they're not really my thing. However, one of the entertainers, a guitarist called Jay from the Philippines, was excellent. I requested a Queen song and he played Love of my Life and Bohemian Rhapsody (not easy!) beautifully.

Taipei Taiwan was next. Again we'd docked quite a long way from the city so I'd booked us an excursion but this time it just took us there and dropped us off. Helpfully our guide, Sonia, suggested that if we wanted to do Taipei 101 (which we did) then we go as part of a group with her and she would buy our tickets. So we gave her the money for three tickets (it was just Roderic, Grey and I - Val had opted to stay on the ship again) and planned to meet up with her at 2pm.

There were some interesting groups of people hanging round outside the building (which also includes a large shopping mall, of course). Some seemed to be protesters, and we thought several of them were Nazis as they had swastika flags. Of course, the swastika is an ancient symbol originating in this region so they may not have been but we steered clear anyway.

I liked this street art:

And there was a smaller version on our ship too!

We then went hunting for the Hop On Hop Off Bus. We found the bus but it was out of service, so we went to look for the ticket office. Often there's a stand with people accosting tourists trying to sell them tickets, but there was nothing. When the bus finally started up and drove round the corner to the bus stop it turned out you buy the tickets on board. One thing we discovered on this trip was that tourist bus tours vary enormously in terms of price and quality, especially in Asia. Taipei was somewhere in the middle, Kagoshima wins the prize for the worst. It was a pretty interesting tour, but what I found most interesting was the history of Taiwan, and how one person (Chiang Kai-shek) had been the difference between it being a prosperous semi-independent democratic nation and a territory of China. Chiang had also had the presence of mind to save a lot of artwork from the mainland where it would otherwise have been destroyed. 

The Grand Hotel, Taipei

We noticed that in Asia a lot of signs were illustrated with cute people or animals rather than being realistic-looking. This one - about reporting sexual harassment but featuring cute puppies and kittens - stood out in particular.

We got back in good time to join Sonia and our group and go to the 89th floor of Taipei 101. This was the tallest skyscraper in the world from 2004-2009 (when the Burj Khalifa was built) and still has the world's fastest lifts, transporting us at 60kph meaning the ride from the 5th floor to the 89th floor took 37 seconds. 

Me outside Taipei 101

The views from the top were lovely, as you'd expect, and there were pretty displays and interactive exhibits, plus a gift shop and several food outlets where we had that lovely tofu-based dessert.

The view from Taipei 101

I connected to the free wifi and had a bit of a shock. A text from Val saying:

I'd noticed in the daily programme the night before that there was going to be a crew fire drill the next day. They do a lot of safely drills on a cruise ship and generally pick a time when all the passengers are off the ship. I hadn't realised Val didn't bother to read the daily programme, and hadn't thought to mention it. Oops!

It was mother's day while we were away - my first mother's day without my mum so it was probably good that I was on a cruise. We went to a speciality restaurant to celebrate. Le Petit Chef projects a cute interactive narrative onto the table which was fun, and of course the food was excellent.

Our next stop was Kagoshima, Japan, a lovely city in the shadow of Japan's most active volcano, Sakurajima, which smokes constantly and has occasional minor eruptions. It's a little alarming, but well monitored, and as Roderic pointed out the pressure is not building up so it's probably a safer volcano to be near than one which has been dormant for a long time.

We didn't have time to take a ferry to Sakurajima, which was a pity, and that's sometime we'd like to do another time. Instead, after a quick lunch for the children at McDonald's, we braved the rather confusing tourist bus (also used by locals and with a driver who spoke no English and where you pay when you get off) and eventually managed to get to Sengan-en gardens. With less than an hour to explore before we had to get the bus back to where we would pick up the shuttle to the ship we didn't really do it justice. The gift shop in particular was one of the best I'd seen so far (they had a basket of tiny china cats!) but we didn't even have time for me to queue for a sweet potato ice cream. We'd like to return to Kagoshima one day, and since it's the bottom end of the bullet train route from Tokyo it would be easy and fun to combine with a return to Tokyo.

In Kagoshima I noticed that every other car seemed to be an adorable little Nissan cube. Even the taxis. I loved them, and would totally buy one if they were available in the UK. There were even van versions and minibus versions.

Our final sea day was spent packing and saying a fond farewell to the crew who had looked after us so well - Richard and Gale our waiters, Andrew, Maureen and Henrique who brought us drinks, and Miguel our cabin steward, who got our door lock fixed very quickly twice when it broke.

By 10am the following day we'd left the ship and arrived via taxi at our hotel, the Intercontinental Tokyo Bay. It was a lovely hotel and they were happy to store our luggage but check-in wasn't until 3pm so we had some time to kill. Val was feeling a bit overwhelmed and tired and not ready to explore so opted to remain in the hotel foyer. The rest of us asked the doorman what there was to do nearby (he had no idea) so in the end we got on the nearby monorail. Initially we decided that Tokyo Big Site sounding promising, but when it turned out to be a conference centre we got back on the monorail and this time got off where everyone else had - Odaiba. This was much better, with some interesting views and great shopping. At the food court I managed to find someone who spoke enough English to understand that I didn't want any meat in my meal, and I got a plateful of noodles and cabbage with an egg on top. 

We arrived back at the hotel and checked in. Our rooms were just as luxurious as those in the hotel in Singapore, and being on the 20th floor they had an amazing view. I mentioned in my last post that toilets would be a theme and Japanese toilets put even the Singaporean ones to shame. The seats were heated of course, and there were two built-in bidet jets. Naturally you could adjust the direction, heat, and pressure of both. You could also have the toilet play music if you wanted any sounds obscured. And these weren't just the hotel toilets. Public toilets in Japan were just as impressive (and spotlessly clean, like all of Japan).

In our absence Val had discovered the nearby Family Mart, so we went there to stock up on snacks for the room. The port destination speaker on the ship had warned us that Japan didn't really do chocolate which was rather alarming, but while strawberry seemed to be the default flavour of anything sweet, I'm happy to report that we were able to find chocolate.

Grey loved these capsule toy shops, which were everywhere

Japanese pet shops have the pets in the window for you to fall in love with

In the evening we walked to the shopping district five minutes away and had dinner at McDonald's - Val ordered for us in Japanese. Again, there were no vegetarian options at all (although there were some interesting local dishes such as a Teriyaki burger) so I just had chips, and later ate the only vegetarian sandwich offered at Family Mart - a potato omelette sandwich. Oddly nice. Probably better than the noodle roll which was my other option.

The following day Roderic and I woke up much earlier than the children so decided to walk to Tokyo tower about a mile from our hotel. While it wasn't as tall as Taipei 101 it still offered us stunning views of Tokyo. 

Temple near Tokyo Tower

Japanese Tea Ceremony at Tokyo Tower

The children wanted to go to the Nintendo and Pokemon stores at Shibuya so we then took the metro (no problems this time) and came up to the surface about a ten minute walk from the mall (Parco) where these were located. I noticed that a nearby shopping centre was called "Shibuya Scramble" and thought what a cute name that was. It was only after we'd joined the huge hoards crossing the big road junction that I realised it was the famous scramble often featured on pictures of Tokyo. I Googled it later. Each time the lights change around 3,000 people throng across the road. On the way back I took photos, and realised a lot of people crossing were filming themselves doing so. It's actually one of the things I enjoyed most in Japan, and we stumbled on it quite by accident.

Shibuya Scramble

And here's the junction without anyone walking on it

It took us a while to find the Nintendo store, and of course everyone loved it. Grey bought a switch at a great price and various other things including merchandise we can't get in the UK.

In looking for somewhere for lunch I discovered a vegan restaurant. We'd seen one in Singapore too, and it seems the attitude in Asia is that they know some people make the compassionate choice to be vegan or vegetarian, and they do cater for them, but in separate establishments. Which is fine as far as it goes I suppose but most people would like to eat with their families. Roderic was still shopping so I persuaded Val and Grey to join me and had the best meal of any of those I had in Japan. The seitan was amazing.

The following day we checked out of our hotel, leaving our luggage in storage there since we had a late flight, and went to Akihabara which is famous for its electronics and anime shops. Roderic wanted to buy some anime DVDs we can't get in the UK but when we followed signs for DVD shops (which seemed to be down poky alleys or up four flights of rickety and dark stairs) they turned out to be the sort of DVDs we really didn't want, if you get my meaning. In the end Roderic was forced to conclude that Japan is no longer producing DVDs of the animes he wanted to see.

Cat cafe in Shibuya

Grey had bought lots of presents and things which didn't fit in our already bulging luggage, so bought a new suitcase in Akihabara which we filled with the various gifts and souvenirs we'd bought. Then we started the twice-daily ritual of trying to find food I could eat. Burger King had nothing vegetarian, and eventually we found Denny's, another American chain (although I don't think they're in the UK) so we went there in the hope that we might find something for me, even if it was just chips.

Val spoke to the waitress in Japanese which the waitress was delighted about and while the entire menu was based on meat Val was able to discover that there was a soy "meat" option, so that's what I ordered. Val was also able to ask for more salt in Japanese. The years of Japanese lessons have been worth it, then.

We returned to the hotel to await our taxi, and I decided to find out how much it would cost for our excess baggage - Grey's additional suitcase. The Singapore Airlines site said US$150 which felt a bit steep to me but Grey said it was okay. Then I found out that it was per leg of the flight which meant it was now $300. And then it turned out that was only if you booked it more than six hours before the flight (which we hadn't) and the price was actually $420 at the airport. Ouch.

When we got to Toyko Haneda airport I told the check-in machine that we had five bags for four people and braced myself for the demand for money, but it just spat out five luggage tags and directed us to the baggage drop desk. Okay, I figured, I pay there. But they weighed all our suitcases together and because in total they still came to less than our baggage weight allowance Grey didn't have to pay anything, so that felt like a result.

The flight to Singapore was seven hours and I slept for most of it, so that was good. We then had a seven hour layover in Changi airport at Singapore, another chance to explore the most beautiful airport in the world. We didn't get to see the waterfall but we did enjoy the butterfly garden. The airport offers free city tours which I'd have loved to do but the timing just didn't work out for us.

Butterfly garden in Changi airport

The waterfall in the butterfly garden

The plushest seating I've ever encountered at at airport. Comfy seats, carpets, table, charging points. 

The thirteen-hour flight to Heathrow was not something I'm in a hurry to do again. I couldn't sleep so watched Oppenheimer (didn't much rate it, too bitty) and a Bond film and several other things I've since forgotten. We were glad we'd paid the extra £20 for valet parking when we arrived at Heathrow and it was good to be home again.

Of all the places we visited I loved Singapore most of all and would happily go back there for a week or more. The rest of the family fell in love with Japan and would like to return, probably for a week in Tokyo, a trip to mount Fuji, and then a few days in Kagoshima. We also really liked the ship and the cruise line. The only thing I'd change is that it really does need a passenger laundry and a library. Clean clothes and good books were a home luxury I'm really appreciating now!

Singapore to Japan Cruise - March 2024 (Part 1)

Buckle up - it was a long and eventful cruise, so this will be a long post.

This was my seventh cruise, and by far the most expensive, funded by money my dad left me when he died in 2016. I'd been keeping it safe in case there was a tax bill to pay, but when the seven years was up and I was able to access it I decided to spend it on a bucket list cruise. He was well travelled so I think he'd have approved.

My mother died a month to the day before we were due to leave, so it seemed even more important that I make the most of living and making amazing memories. You never know how long you'll get. It is so difficult not being able to tell her all about it, though.

Roderic and I were joined on this cruise by my youngest, Val, and Val's favourite cousin Grey (sorry Niki and Lara!) who is just two months younger than Val. Val has been learning Japanese for the last three years and both children love Japan so this was something we were all very exited about.

We left from Heathrow on the evening of 1st March, arriving in Singapore after a turbulent 13-hour flight on the evening of 2nd March since Singapore is 8 hours ahead of UK time. Singapore airport is considered to be the best in the world, and as we walked through looking for the taxi rank the children apparently got a glimpse of the world's largest indoor waterfall and the Koi pond, but Roderic and I missed it. 

Singapore smells beautiful. The airport was full of fragrant flowers and the taxi also smelt lovely. The city was impressive right from the start, with very tall skyscrapers with such interesting architecture and clever design that they were also beautiful and elegant. Everywhere was spotlessly clean, and of course it was deliciously warm.

Our hotel, the Capitol Kempinsky, was stunning. Singapore is an interesting mix of old colonial buildings and modern structures and our hotel was one of the former, taking up an entire block but also cleverly encompassing the Capitol Theatre and a shopping mall, much of which was underground. In fact our hotel rooms overlooked the restaurants in the central atrium.

Grey and Val in the hotel foyer as we check in

One of the elegant "ladies in red" (Tomoko, who was Japanese and who the children loved) checked us in and showed us to our rooms, and wonderful rooms they were. The bathrooms were particularly impressive. The children had a bath in theirs, and at the touch of a button the "mirror" at the foot of the bath turned into a television. They also loved that the toilet bowl was lit so you could see it in the dark, and the seat was heated. (Toilets were quite a theme of our trip, more on them later.)

We only had one full day in Singapore, so after one of the best hotel breakfasts I've ever experienced (they had Asian, Indian, British and American sections) we decided to visit Chinatown, or Kampong Glam as it's known, which was about a ten minute walk from our hotel. It was busy and colourful and bright, with a large mosque in the centre, but interestingly wasn't particularly Chinese. There were sari shops and a real mix of cultures, and we found this to be the case for a lot of Singapore. I think Val put it succinctly by saying, "When the British gave Singapore independence it's as if they said, 'Which Asian nation would you like to represent?' and Singapore said, 'Yes'." It really is a hotch-potch of all sorts of cultures, all rubbing along very nicely together, but it's very comfortable for visiting Brits like us. They drive on the left, the road markings are the double-yellow and white dotted lines we're used to, and our hotel was the block within Hill Street, Coleman Street, North Bridge Road and Stamford Road.

Kampong Glam - lots of character and colourful murals

There was a 7-11 near our hotel and the teenagers seemed to want to get noodles from there for most meals, especially when we failed to find McDonald's (there were several, we just couldn't find them due to lack of internet access for Google maps). I did also take them to a Japanese restaurant for Val's favourite noodles, but there was unashamedly nothing on the menu for vegetarians (this would also be a theme) so I just had the complimentary bean sprouts.

In the afternoon Roderic and I went to Gardens by the Bay and the Marina Bay Sands Hotel. It rains a lot in Singapore and we got soaked. I think the gardens with the amazing sky trees might have been more enjoyable in better weather, and we were also unable to do the viewing deck of the hotel, but we did have a wonderful pizza dinner at the shopping mall there.

It’s when Roderic commented that he’d be better able to admire the Sky trees if they weren’t all covered in plants that I realised this marvel of ecological engineering was wasted on us. 

The following morning it was dry again and a lovely 30 degrees so once I'd packed I walked down to see the merlion. I passed a wedding outside the supreme court building, and a police surveillance robot. I stopped to take a photo of the robot and it saw me doing so and did a little twirl for me.

The Merlion washing my hair

Surveillance robot

By the time I got back our taxi had arrived so we headed off to the port to join our ship. As efficient as ever, I'd printed our luggage tags and put them in specially purchased plastic holders to attach safely to our cases, but blonde as ever I had then forgotten all about them, failed to give them to everyone, and in fact lost them, so the staff had to write out luggage tags for us. (I found them when I unpacked my suitcase.)

We entered the ship via the art gallery on deck 4. I've been on a ship with an art gallery and art auctions before and it's always seemed a really odd thing to make space for on a cruise ship, but Val, who is an art student, loved it, spent a lot of time there, went to several of the talks, the VIP reception, and nearly bought a painting, so clearly I'm a philistine.

Our staterooms were across the corridor from each other but Roderic and I had the one with the balcony and the children had an inside room - no window. It was the nicest room I've had on a cruise ship so far. Although the ship was built in 2000 (hence the name - Celebrity Millennium) it was refurbished in 2019, and it even had USB ports by the bed - which is a good thing as my extension lead got confiscated. (Surge protected extension leads are a fire hazard on cruise ships.)

We explored the ship and had dinner in the main dining room. We ended up having the same waiters and table each night and they were lovely. Richard and Gale were especially good to Grey, who has a dairy allergy, and brought the next day's menu each evening so that the chef could make Grey's choice without using milk. The chocolate cake with a biscuit base was a particular hit. On that first night Val decided to try escargots which were a daily feature on the menu. They were not a hit, and Roderic agreed when he ordered them the next night.

Our next port stop was Vietnam. It’s quite a culture shock going from Singapore to Vietnam. Singapore is a wealthy nation where street touting is illegal, but Vietnam is a developing country where you are constantly and relentlessly pursued by people trying to sell you things. T-shirts, sunglasses, fans, and frequently they are working with pickpockets who will take your wallet while you’re fending off their advances. One woman in our tour group had her phone stolen from her pocket.

We did a cruise excursion in Ho Chi Minh City. I don’t much like cruise excursions, they’re generally expensive and a bit like a cattle market with everyone crowding into the theatre waiting for the number on their sticker to be called. My preferred option is just to get off the ship and explore the area, but we docked at a container port about an hour from anywhere so I booked the only excursion available - to the Post Office, a lacquerware factory, and an upmarket shopping street.

The coach stopped on the way to allow everyone to get off for a toilet break. Luckily I didn't need to. I was told later that they were... unpleasant. Even the ones which weren't holes in ground. Another culture shock after the spotless Singaporean porcelain thrones.

Our coach burst a tyre on the way so there was more walking than originally planned. Our Vietnamese tour guide told us with great pride about the events of 30th April 1975 and how that date is celebrated and honoured as "Liberation Day" and we were able to see, in front of the parliament building, the actual tank that burst through the compound to capture Saigon.

Street vendor outside the post office in Ho Chi Minh City. Note the little dog with his own fan. I was amazed at what this woman was wearing in 36 degree heat.

The tank which led the convoy of seven tanks resulting in the fall of Saigon on 30th April 1975

Sign celebrating 30th April

The post office may sound dull but it was a beautiful building with lots of vendors inside, and an interesting history. There’s a big picture of Ho Chi Minh in pride of place, which is how I learned he’s an actual person. The laquerware factory was interesting and shows how much work goes into this traditional craft (it's made of eggshells) and the shopping street, which our guide was terrible proud of,  looked just like any other shopping street to me. It was 36 degrees at this stage so we found a nice air conditioned mall and enjoyed browsing until it was time to meet out guide and newly repaired coach to go back to the ship.

Ho Chi Minh central post office

Hand made laquerware

Our next port was Nha Trang where Roderic, Grey and I tendered ashore on the ship's lifeboats (eventually - it was shockingly slow) and were almost immediately surrounded by men trying to persuade us to take their taxi to the beach. Even though it was only a twenty minute walk the whole way there they stopped to ask us whether we needed a ride. You have to be direct and rude in saying no and they are extremely insistent.

Celebrity Millennium among some of the larger traditional fishing boats

We took a wrong turn in Nha Trang and found ourselves in a shanty town of corrugated metal huts on what looked like a filthy building site.It led to the seafront where there were little coracles and people who evidently made their living catching and selling shellfish, but there was no access to the beach, so we went back to the main road and eventually discovered the huge, largely empty and very beautiful sandy beach where we spent a couple of hours. The sea was warm, and notwithstanding the busker it was a relaxing way to pass an afternoon. Across the bay from us was Vinpearl, a luxury resort and theme park with a cable car leading from Nha Trang to Vinpearl island. It seems harsh that people live in such poverty looking out on such luxury.