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.
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| The Grand Hotel, Taipei |
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| Grey loved these capsule toy shops, which were everywhere |
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| 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.
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| Temple near Tokyo Tower |
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| Japanese Tea Ceremony at Tokyo Tower |
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| Shibuya Scramble |
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| And here's the junction without anyone walking on it |
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.
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| 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.
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| Butterfly garden in Changi airport |
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| The waterfall in the butterfly garden |
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| 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!
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