catching up with Stan's photoblogs - Japan and S. Korea

From Stan

Sending from Starbucks at the port in Hong Kong, ‘cuz ship internet has not been effective and we haven’t found internet access at  port stops in Busan or Shanghai (I’m sure it’s available, but our time was too limited to locate it). I’m backed up preparing reports—maybe I’ll never catch-up, but am gonna try. Here’s report #9 on Kobe, Japan—not our best port stop so far (due to a complex comedy of circumstances and weather) and perhaps the most difficult report to compose to be nice and see the positives and downplay negatives.

Definitely on the plus side:

We’ve avoided the worst of the cyclonic storms.

We weren’t in a museum in Tunisia
Kobe, Japan

World Voyage Report #9

https://docs.com/1KH2I

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8bStWwJ2x3PaWh6eVVxbU5vcGM/view?usp=sharing

Busan, S Korea

World Voyage Report #10

https://docs.com/1KH2J

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8bStWwJ2x3PSU9BdWVYbWJjaTA/view?usp=sharing

We are heavy into port stops for awhile now - busy, busy. In Saigon coffee shop - the Vietnamese really have caught the coffee craze - though I guess they have their own style.  We were mostly looking for air conditioning and a waiting place (cathedral will open in a bit, then back to the bus.

Busan, South Korea

We spent a nice day in Busan (Pusan), South Korea. Hazy, but sunny skies and temps in low 60s. We were happily on our own for the day. Had a relaxed morning and took a shuttle at 10:00 into downtown. There were a few sights Stan had marked on his GPS, so we used that to get around, as is our norm.

The Jagaichi fish market is well known and quite large - right in the center of downtown. Stan always enjoys taking pictures of these markets. Most tanks were teeming with live sea life and those with legs were continually trying to escape. An octopus that had gotten mostly out of its tank was casually lifted back into its tank by the shop owner.

After going up to the Sky Terrace viewpoint on the top floor, we wandered back through to the Gukje market area - very similar to many everyday merchandise street markets we have seen before - where you can buy anything and everything you might need. It's not so focused on tourist stuff which is fine with us, but I found a couple of things (and finally used my like bit of Yen that I hadn't spent in Japan). Yesterday was a Saturday, so there was a lot of local shopping going on - both in the street markets and also in more mainstream stores.

We headed toward the Yongdusan park escalators, but found a very large, old decorated building blocking our way. After finding our way around the block, we found it was a Buddhist temple, seeming to be related to lotus lanterns. We couldn't read the sign, but there was a poster of the Lotus Lantern Festival and there were lots of lanterns hanging inside. There were a number of Buddhas inside, so we removed our shoes and went inside so see things more closely.

We then wandered our way back around to find the escalators (up only) to the park, where Stan found magnolias and a few cherry blossoms. Then it was time to work our way down and down and down the many steps back to our shuttle. Over all we had a nice day wandering, once again, on our own.

Japan

Japan was, unfortunately, a disappointment for us. With the port change from Yokohama to Kobe (and cancellation of Nagasaki altogether) due weather concerns, we were unprepared for this port. We chose to take ship excursions both days, which also were much less than satisfactory. Weather also had a big part in that - excursions go rain or shine without any variation from pre-planned itineraries.

We did see the Kinkakuji Golden Pavilion and Kiyomizo  temple in Kyoto, but only for about 15 minutes each - out of a 6 1/2 hour tour. So, we essentially drove for 6 hours, mostly through industrial Japan and very unattractive freeways  with a few very quick glimpses of small historic buildings and Shinto temple entrances. Cunard's decisions to run these tours even though we were not able to see the sights within the timeframe was very frustrating.

Our second day was to Osaka, again very rainy, but we did actually see the two sites on the planned tour - through pouring rain. However, again, 3/4 of the time was just driving on the freeways through and over the ports of Kobe and Osaka.

The people who chose to just take the shuttle into downtown Kobe had the best experiences in this port, but it does not compare at all well to Yokohama or Nagasaki as a port stop. Unfortunately, these past two days did nothing to entice us to return to Japan (though we have been told again that it's a beautiful place to visit).

Most of today has been cool, with hazy skies - bouncy seas this morning but quite calm since then. We're supposed to go through a very narrow strait in about an hour, so we will go get mostly dressed for dinner (Madam Butterfly theme night and formal) and then go out on deck for part of the transit before dinner. I was up on deck 11 (sport deck) as the top mast above us appeared to barely miss the bottom of the bridge. After clearing, the captain blew the horn as if to say "whew, we made it" :)

To give Cunard its due, they were willing to cancel our South Korea excursion without penalty since we'd had two bad experiences in a row. We also later got a letter from the shoe excursion office that they were refunding 50% of the first tour's cost since it was almost dark when we arrived and closed within minutes after we entered. We had heard that they were giving a credit for to missing a port, but the front office says that is not being done. We'll see.

on the way to Japan

Stan's photo blog

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8bStWwJ2x3PLXJLbGFzemloSDA/view?usp=sharing

We continue to take an unplanned northerly course across the western Pacific. Continuing tropical storms are impacting our cruise  (and others), but considering the devastation in the small island nation of Vanuatu, our disruptions (and bouncy seas) are minor inconveniences.

We were just told that we will not be able to dock in Yokohama due to unsafe weather and sea predictions. We'll go to Kobe instead (and skip Nagasaki altogether) and Cunard will jump through a bunch of hoops to get  our coming and going passengers to and from the ship and arrange tour options for the rest of us. I don't even know where Kobe is, other that having bullet train access to Yokohama and Tokyo. We'll look at options once we see what the tour office had to offer.

As it turns out, Kobe is relatively close to Kyoto (1 1/2 hours by coach), which is supposed to be a highlight of Japan - an ancient capital. Since there was no way to do extensive research while at sea, we are taking two separate ship tours - one to Kyoto and another the next day to Osaka (probably could have easily managed Osaka with research time and better mobility on Stan's part). This will make for a busy two days, but we figured it would give us a chance to see two different locations of cultural importance in Japan. Then there's a sea day before our tour in Busan, S Korea.

This morning there was an unexpected announcement from the Bridge that there was a volcano on our port side which was erupting. It was about 12 miles away, on the horizon. We could definitely see it (and the steam from fumerols below the sea around it) but the light and distance made it mostly fade into the atmosphere. After 5 days of seeing only ocean, it was an item of interest.

Today is a beautiful sea day, a bit cooler as we head to Japan, but we have hazy blue skies and a calm, following sea - nice for a change.

The morning show this morning shared two limericks that Stan had written as part of their St Patrick's Day observances. I'll post them here if I can. We had fun dressing in our bit of green and checking out others - it was a fun evening.

Stan's view - Brisbane and Yorkers knob (barrier reef) with pictures

Two options to see Stan's blog with pictures

Google Drive

Report # 6

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8bStWwJ2x3PWGlTUnRYSkpBMkU/view?usp=sharing

Report #7

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8bStWwJ2x3PRVFkQk1xRFNoMk0/view?usp=sharing

FaceBook

Report #6

https://docs.com/1JARP

Report #7

https://docs.com/1JARO

Rabaul and sea days

Now we are in the midst of two sea days until our port of Rabaul. Yesterday was very gray and windy - high seas due to a cyclone somewhere out in the Coral sea. Lots of rocking back and forth all day, with a definite list due to the high winds off the port side. While it's a bit tricky walking, we aren't having issues with motion sickness, so that is a good thing.

We currently have several good insight speakers, so generally have 3 or 4 lectures to choose from each sea day, in addition to other available activities. Our reef pilot has done several talks about being a ship pilot, the reef and the areas around this part of the world. It's been good to have someone currently actively working in the area. He has also done live commentary in particularly scenic areas and narrow passages.

Due to the high seas, the dance-focused evening program (lots of fast steps ands awesome high lifts) was cancelled last night and was replaced by a vocalist that we hadn't enjoyed. Instead, we went to the Queens Room to watch some of the ballroom dancing and the beginning of the Ladies Night Ball.

Today is much calmer with some swells, but very foggy. We were able to see the shore as we sailed through the China Strait this morning, so we got a glimpse of the mainland of Papua New Guinea, some villages and a few canoe style boats. Rabaul is quite a ways further north on the north side of another large island, so we will arrive there in the morning.

Rabaul was a wander-around town for us. It's a very poor place, having once been a fairly large town. Several volcanic eruptions in the past 100 years (and ongoing) have destroyed much of the town. There's still an active community, but small and poor. Most people relocated to a town about 10 miles away. The people are quite friendly and speak at least some English  I wasn't feeling well overnight, so between my very low energy level and Stan's slow walking (plus heat and humidity) we only managed a few miles - basically to the open market and back. The hills around this harbor are beautifully green - with one black cone of the most active volcano.

Off on our longest sea-day stretch - 5 days to Japan.

Yorkeys Knob

Yorker's Knob is mostly a port gateway for Cairns and sights from there. For us it was the access to the Great Barrier Reef. Ever since our first experience snorkeling, I've wanted to see the Reef. It's not all that easy to get to, and our trip was 1 1/2 hours of choppy water just to get out there. We had a good experience seeing quite a lot of different colors and types of coral and lots of fish varieties. It was a large group on the ship's excursion (really the only viable option for us), but it was well managed, with a company that does these tours all the time. We didn't do the glass bottom boat or semi-submersible options, but chose to spend our time snorkeling, going out three different times - venturing to the far edge of this particular part of the reef. We did hear that these platforms are moved regularly to avoid over-use by tourists, and while there's always evidence of dead coral, there was plenty of live, beautiful coral and the many, many reef fish varieties. Stan saw some quite large fish, but I saw more medium sizes down to the tiny, minnow size.

While we had a good trip, the decision by Cunard to go all the way back to the marina rather than directly back to the ship was not in anyone's best interest. It meant we spent an extra 1 1/2 hours in the very rough seas just bobbing around the outer harbour to get to the marina, get off the catamaran, stand in line (adding a large group of 200-300 into the queue) just to get on the tender to go back out to the ship in such rough waters that the anchor wouldn't hold and ship had to continually maneuver to maintain safe transfers from the tenders. There seemed to be no reason to book the catamaran to pick up on the ship, but not return to the ship. The Reef excursion group seemed to be generally unhappy with that decision, which have a negative last impression of the excursion.We got back so late that there wasn't time to shower and change for dinner, so we missed the evening's entertainment (which we've heard was excellent)

Now we are into two sea days until our port of Rabaul.Today has been very grey and windy - high seas due to a cyclone somewhere out in the coral sea. Lots of rocking back and forth all day, with a definite list due to the high winds off the port side. While it's a bit tricky walking, we aren't having issues with motion sickness, so that is a good thing.

We currently have several good insight speakers, so generally have 3 or 4 lectures to choose from each sea day, in addition to other available activities. Our reef pilot has done several talks about being a ship pilot, the reef and the areas around this part of the world. It's been good to have someone currently actively working in the area. He has also done live commentary in particularly scenic areas and narrow passages.

Sydney and Brisbane

We've had a very enjoyable few days in Australia. We spent our first day in Sydney with Friends from our Mediterranean cruise in the fall of 2013. They drove down from Canberra to spend just a few hours with us - we felt very honored. We all took the ferry to Watson Bay and walked out to the lighthouse at South Head, then enjoyed sharing fish and chips from Doyle's Takeaway at the Beach. It was a beautiful sunny day.

On our second day in Sydney we headed out to Manly and rented a tandem to ride out to North Head. The day started a bit cloudy and misty but cleared and was a great riding day. We ended our ride by riding along Manly Beach before returning the bike and enjoying some free WiFi at the library.

We left Sydney at 9:00 pm, but with a very full moon (the moon has been lighting the sky all night the past several days). We enjoyed the very smooth sail out of Sydney Harbour and through the headlands. It was a beautiful evening.

After a day at sea, we arrived at the commercial port in Brisbane. It's a very long way from the city. We had decided to opt for the ship's tour to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, which had been recommended. We could have managed it independently, but this was much easier and with more history along the way.

We saw a wide variety of Australian animals, though the koalas are definitely the focus. We found a few awake, but they generally spend their lives sleeping - very cute. There was also a large, open enclosure with lots of kangaroos and wallabys. They were very close and wandered freely but they weren't hungry enough to come close to be fed. Another highlight was the platypus area. We've been to a natural platypus area in Tasmania, but they are rarely seen in the wild. The sanctuary has windows below waterline where we could watch a couple of them swimming - very fun. We also saw wombats (bigger than I expected) and a variety of pretty, native birds. This small sanctuary is focused entirely on Australian species, which is very nice for a quick visit to this world of unusual fauna.

New Zealand

We had a great two days in New Zealand. Having spent seven weeks here a few years back (5 weeks in a campervan followed by a two week cruise) we knew that it is a lovely country. We had been toured around Auckland by a young friend on our last visit, so this time around we took the ferry to Devonport and rented a bike. We enjoyed this small town so close to the city and the views from North Head very beautiful.

Then, as we were enjoying the park by the ferry terminal, we noticed a very nice library behind us and remembered having Wi-Fi access in libraries on our previous visit. We no sooner sat down with our computers to use their good wireless when it started raining heavily - a great spot to wait out a thunderstorm :).

Our second day in New Zealand was in the beautiful Bay of Islands. We were tendered to shore, right outside the. Waitaingi Treaty Grounds, where the first treaty between the British and the Maori was signed. It's an important part of New Zealand history. With a short port day, we did not have time to spend extensive time in the Treaty Grounds, but we're able to see their large historic canoes from a distance (we also watched a number of our shipmates as they learned to paddle these large double canoes in the river :).

After the tender trip, we continue with the shuttle down to town to take the ferry to Russell, which was the first British settlement and first New Zealand capital. It's a small, very attractive town with a number of historic colonial buildings. During our return on the ferry, were able to sit on the top deck and enjoy the views of the sail boats and small communities that dot the many islands in the area.

Overall, it was a really nice day to relax and just enjoy another part of beautiful New Zealand. After leaving the bay, we had to continue north for quite a long ways before heading west into the notorious Tasman Sea toward Australia.

See Stan's blog below.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8bStWwJ2x3PZFlmcDNLR01CYUE/view?usp=sharing