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Channeling Anthony Bourdain in Fukuoka

 

Day 21, Grand Asia 2018

Sunday, Oct. 21, 2018, Fukuoka, Japan:

 

With our stop today in Fukuoka, we have visited the four main islands of Japan. Later we will go to the fifth, Okinawa.

 

Fukuoka is known for its food. In 2014, Condé Nast Magazine named it Japan’s Next Great Food City. Not one to pass up a good meal, I joined a group that ate as the local do – at a yatai stall along the Fukuoka canal. These are small open-air stands, with about eight to 10 small stools crowded on three sides of a central counter where the chef cooks. Ramen, yakitori and oden soup seemed to be the most popular choices, and each of us who were game to try the street food had our fill. Having watched a lot of Anthony Bourdain’s travels, I was determined to jump right in.

 

After eating edamame, I ordered the yakitori, which came with six skewers. What I think might have been lamb was too tough to chew, but everything else was delicious -- especially the pork belly. Even what looked like a skinny hot dog was flavorful. Of course, I washed it all down with a giant Asahi beer. I had planned to sample other options, but was too full between the grilled meat and the beer. We could have chosen from among a dozen or so stalls, each of which was brightly lit with lanterns facing the canal. Even on a Sunday night the atmosphere was festive.

 

Our ship didn’t arrive into Fukuoka until noon. Around 7 a.m., we entered the Kanmon Strait, a narrow and heavily trafficked channel between two islands that took us to the Sea of Japan north of Kyushu Island. Our on-board guide Ian’s running description of the transit played on the outside decks and in the Crow’s Nest.

 

After lunch I took the city-sponsored shuttle into the heart of Tenjin, the center of the city. It is full of high-end shops and department stores. Once I heard that Fukuoka is the sixth largest city in Japan, I thought it might be the place to solve a computer problem I was experiencing. My external hard drive – the one with ALL my photos, had started making ominous noises, and the backup I had brought quit mounting to my Apple Macbook Pro after Yokohama. So I used my handy Pocket Earth app and found an Apple store not 10 minutes from the shuttle stop.

 

Of course someone there could help me – in English – to buy a new hard drive that would pair with my Apple laptop. The line to pay was long, and the 1-terabyte hard drive cost 9800 yen (about $90 dollars). Not as cheap as at home, but hey – no sales tax! And by the time I went to bed, I had copied my 800-plus gigabytes from one drive to the new one. I slept better for it.

 

 

 

 

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Finally Some Lazy Days

 

Day 23, Grand Asia 2018

Tuesday, Oct. 23, 2018, At Sea:

 

After six straight days in five ports, we were ready for two lazy sea days. Yesterday we sailed among South Korean islands for much of the day, passing between Jeju and the mainland and eventually heading northwest toward Tianjin, the port city for Beijing.

 

Now, we are between North Korea and China.

 

We won’t be leaving Japan behind. After an overnight in Beijing, two sea days and then an overnight in Shanghai, we will return to Japan and the island of Okinawa.

 

The immigration procedures for most of these countries can be complex. Before leaving Fukuoka, we each had to pass through a Japanese inspection confirming that our faces matched those in our passport photos. Tomorrow in Tianjin, everyone on the ship must pass through Chinese immigration before anyone is allowed back on the ship. As I recall, the Chinese were particularly detailed in the process. Those who are traveling overnight or on a train will take their passports with them. Others, like me, who are taking day trips will leave our passports at the ship’s office and take a stamped color photocopy.

 

It’s easy to fall back into a sea day routine. For me, that’s an early breakfast at the Lido and watercolor class at 9 a.m. Last year we could linger in the watercolor room as long as we wanted, but this year the instructor’s husband loudly announces, “Class is Over” promptly at 10 a.m. and clears the room. I spend a little time with the stitch and knit group and then go to the America’s Test Kitchen demonstration or a lecture and lunch. Afternoons vary more, depending on the speakers and other scheduled activities.

 

We have new speakers who both are talking about China. Ambassador Krishna Rajan, a retired Indian diplomat, has spoken on “How China Sees Itself and the World” and “Rise of China, What it Means for the World.” Capt. Thomas G. Anderson’s topics thus far have been “China and the Geopolitics of Inland Waterways” and “Coastal Megacities of Southeast Asia.”

 

Somewhere I find time to catch up on my blog writing and organize my photos. Our new book club selection is Crazy Rich Asians and I hope I can get it read before our discussion.

 

Today at the suggestion of a passenger we had a meet-up of writers on the cruise. There were four of us. We shared our backgrounds – a writer of fantasy and historical fiction, a newspaper columnist, a writer-in-residence at a college and me. Three of us write blogs. We know there are other writers on board so we will try meeting together again in a few days. It’s hard to schedule because there are so many activities.

 

I had two more calendar entries for the day. First was a brief meeting with the small group that is touring Tianjin tomorrow. We ironed out the details for meeting to pass through immigration together. Then I enjoyed a reception hosted by my travel agency. After a couple of gin and tonics there, I almost fell asleep before dinner. I know I will sleep well tonight and hope to be rested for two days in China.

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Tianjin: The Unknown Megacity

 

Day 24, Grand Asia 2018

Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2018, Tianjin, China:

 

New York City has about 8.6 million people, according to Wikipedia. Tianjin, China, has 15.6 million residents. And yet I had never heard of Tianjin before cruising to China. For cruisers, Tianjin is best known as the port for Beijing, like Civitavecchia is the port for Rome and Le Havre for Paris.

 

On this cruise last year I took an overnight tour to Beijing, visiting the Great Wall, Summer Palace, Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City and Temple of Heaven. This year’s tours went to the same sites, so I opted for a tour of Tianjin today. The weather was nice and the air quality better than normal.

 

My favorite stop was the Yanliuqing Woodblock Printing Museum. It was full of colorful paintings created for the Spring Festival. Many depict activities of daily life, while others convey moral stories designed to teach children. We saw the techniques of carving the designs into woodblocks, followed by printing and then painting.

 

I took a lot of pictures and hope to try to replicate them in watercolor, which would give a different effect than the paints they used.

 

Tianjin was one of the first cities in China to open to the west, so it has an area of “concessions,” or areas specific to the British, Italians, Germans and others. Today the Five Avenues area, as it is known, is home to some former grand residences, set aside amidst the skyscrapers in most of the city center. We visited a former football (soccer to Americans) stadium that now is a park.

 

Lunch was a challenge for some on our tour, as the restaurant didn’t have any forks. We ate the traditional Chinese tour lunch, with the 11 of us around a big table with a lazy susan in the center, where staff placed about a dozen dishes. I washed it down (as usual) with a good Chinese beer, the local Harbin Ice, apparently an NBA sponsor.

 

The Confucius Temple was a calm space in an upscale shopping area, despite the skyscrapers encircling it.

 

Some afternoon stops disappointed me a little. I think it was partly due to our tour guide, a young man who spoke good English but wasn’t experienced in leading tour groups. He didn’t know some of the sites our organizer had requested, and therefore steered us wrong in trying to see them. We think we entered an antique mall through the back and never saw the shops we expected. We wandered one way down a shopping alley that didn’t have anything of interest to us, only to hear later that we should have gone the other way.

 

Our final stop was a surprise to me. It was the Ancient Culture Street, which I expected to depict early life in Tianjin. Instead, it is a tourist shopping area built in 1986 – a street with small storefronts on each side selling knick-knacks, Chinese clothes, art prints, calligraphy brushes and other things that weren’t of interest to me. I guess I am not the average tourist looking to take mementos home.

 

The Ancient Culture Street is on the banks of the Hai River, which flows through Tianjin. At places it reminded me of Paris, with wide walkways along the banks and interesting bridges. I had hoped to get a photograph of the Tianjin Eye, the 394-foot tall Ferris wheel built over the river, but we only caught a glimpse while on the bus.

 

By the time we embarked on the hour-plus drive back to the port, it was dark. On our way in, we had passed clusters of apartment complexes, 20-30 stories high that appeared empty. Yet many more are under construction. I was reminded that the national bird of China is said to be the crane – the building crane.

 

Back on the ship, Chinese acrobats entertained us at the nightly show with a demonstration of flexibility, balance and strength.

 

 

 

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The Ghost Ship

 

Day 25, Grand Asia 2018

Thursday, Oct. 25, 2018, Tianjin, China:

 

After a day in Tianjin yesterday and a two-day trip to Beijing last year, my options for today were limited. The ship offered a 40-minute shuttle ride to a mall, but having heard the descriptions from those who went the first day, I had no interest in shopping. So for perhaps the first time ever, I stayed on the ship while in port.

 

It was like being on a ghost ship.

 

I ate breakfast early as usual and then decamped to the library with a latte and my laptop to write and post the previous blog entry. It’s taking almost an hour to upload my pictures, format the entry and post it. Now that I know that those who subscribe by email get it immediately after posting, I have been more diligent about editing it first. Sure, I can correct typos later, but the errors have already hit inboxes.

 

The daily program was bereft of organized activities. At 11 a.m. I decided to make a survey of the public areas.

 

Mainstage Theater, empty and dark. Ocean Bar, empty. Shops, closed and dark. Casino, closed and empty. Sports Bar, empty. Piano Bar, empty. Crow’s Nest, empty.

 

Finally, three people in the Explorer’s Lounge. And about a dozen passengers in the Library. Three in the gym. About the same number in the Lido pool area.

 

After a fairly sunny and better-than-usual atmosphere yesterday, today was foggy and smoggy. The sun struggled to peak through behind the Westerdam early and disappeared as the day went on. I found it hard to tell how much was pollution, but it certainly deterred me from spending time on the balcony breathing in whatever hung in the air. I heard it was worse in Tianjin and Beijing. The huge cranes on the other side of the waterway disappeared at times.

 

Joyce and I went to lunch in the main dining room, something neither of us had done on this cruise. I usually prefer the Lido buffet. Our table of six was one of only two occupied on the starboard side. The port side didn’t have any more.

 

Everyone else was either ashore or in his or her cabin.

 

I loved it.

 

By late afternoon, the tour buses returned and the passengers streamed up the gangway. Because Holland America’s Westerdam, with twice as many passengers, was docked behind us, there was some confusion as a few passengers tried to board the wrong ship.

 

At dinner we celebrated Joyce’s birthday, with the Indonesian crew singing a birthday song to her to the traditional Dutch birthday tune but with Indonesian words. She especially loves it because she was born in the Netherlands.

 

 

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It’s All About the View

 

Day 28, Grand Asia 2018

Sunday, Oct. 28, 2018, Shanghai, China:

 

There is no better eye candy from the ship than in Shanghai. I slept later than usual and missed the pre-dawn journey up the Haungpu River. My first sight of the city was the view from my balcony, and boy is it a view!

 

An advantage of a smaller ship is the ability to go places a bigger ship can’t go. We hear the Westerdam is docked far from the city center.

 

Today I have another independent tour with a group that came together on CruiseCritic.com. We strolled along the Bund, shopped at the Yuyuan Garden market and drove about an hour to the Zhujiajian watertown, where boats ply canals just as they did long before Shanghai became a global city.

 

I had time at the first two stops to quickly sketch the scene. I’ll add more detail and watercolor to the sketches later.

 

The Bund includes a broad promenade along the river, offering stunning views of Pudong skyline. It is hard to believe that just two decades ago that entire area was rice paddies and farms. Major hotels and banks share the view along the Bund, and the premier high-end shopping areas surround it.

 

We chose instead of the designer stores to go the more traditional Chinese market, where vendors offer jade and pearl jewelry, silk scarves, clothes, toys, souvenirs and (sadly) Starbucks and McDonalds.

 

I was intrigued by an artist who finger-paints beautiful Chinese scenes using mainly the side of his finger. No surprise that one of his paintings was my only purchase.

 

The Zhujiajiao watertown was full of Sunday visitors and tourists. We boarded small boats, steered and propelled much like gondolas in Venice, to journey down the canals.

 

After an unremarkable late lunch, we fought the crowds to shop along the narrow alleys. We saw a variety of goods -- some of which I couldn’t identify – including all kinds of dried fruits, pork knuckles (a local dish), candies, rice wines, embroidery, silk quilts, etc.

 

Back at the ship after sunset, the view drew me to my balcony and almost made me consider skipping dinner. Brightly lit dinner cruise ships passed back and forth while Shanghai’s famous light show outlined buildings with continually changing colors and scenes.

 

I moved up to the Crow’s Nest to enjoy the scene and to say goodbye to Hazel, one of my favorite bar waitresses. She is returning tomorrow to her home (and her mother’s home cooking) in Manila for a vacation before joining another Holland America ship. Esmeralda, another favorite in the Crow’s nest, left a couple of weeks ago. Of course they are replaced with new people who are just as delightful. You cannot beat the quality of Holland America’s Filipino and Indonesian crewmembers.

 

The night ended with a show of Chinese dancers. They were entertaining, but for me couldn’t compete with the view from the balcony.

 

 

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A Different View of Shanghai

 

Day 29, Grand Asia 2018

Monday, Oct. 29, 2018, Shanghai, China:

 

The chirping drowned out almost everything.

 

This was a side of Shanghai, with its skyscrapers and designer shops, that I hadn’t seen before. We had passed through a narrow door into a market behind the storefronts in the old Chinese area into a large indoor market. The aisles between the stalls were crowded with mostly men. Here and there were birds in hanging cages, bowls of small turtles and boxes of hamsters and rabbits.

 

But the busiest stalls were loud with the chirping of crickets. The sounds were coming from clay pots, boxes, vials and cardboard tubes. This was one of more than a dozen cricket markets in Shanghai. For more than 1,000 years the Chinese have engaged in cricket fighting, in which two crickets, agitated by disturbing their antennae with a bamboo stick, fight until one loses interest. And were he there, Capt. Renault (see “Casablanca”) would say, “I’m shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on here.”

 

Today’s tour was one of a new series on Holland America – co-sponsored by Food and Wine Magazine, another of the cruise line’s promotional partners. This was Amazing Shanghai Eats, “exploring the city’s less-trodden streets and several authentic Shanghai restaurants that have been featured in Food & Wine magazine.”

 

I would say it was more about the discrete areas of Shanghai than really about the food, but we did start out with Shanghai’s famous soup dumplings at Nanxiang Steamed Bun Restaurant, near an area of old neighborhoods in the shadow of new skyscrapers.

 

The tour was a little more expensive ($150) than some and limited to 10 or 12, but we only had eight. It was the perfect size for a tour as far as I am concerned. Much bigger and the tour slows, becomes disorganized and doesn’t allow you to hear the guide.

 

We visited the Old China section with the cricket market, narrow streets with second-hand shops and food booths. During the lunch hour it was teeming with people buying noodles, meatballs of all kinds including fish balls and other local foods.

 

We moved on to the French concession, the area set aside for French control more than a century ago, and had a light lunch of a rice wrap with pork and cucumber and a large mug of soybean milk. The restaurant was in a mall and near an area of old buildings, including one that housed the original meeting of the Communist Party Congress. The area now is filled with restaurants, bars and upscale shops. Things change.

 

In the shrinking Muslin area within the English settlement, we sampled lamb kabobs cooked right on the sidewalk and then walked to the “Fleet Street” of Shanghai, filled with bookstores and the original locations of the city’s newspapers. Our final stop was in The Press, a restaurant and bar housed in the original building of Shen Bao (formerly transliterated as Shun Pao), the old Shanghai News newspaper. The window sported a Thomas Jefferson quote supporting the media.

 

Of course, I ordered the drink called The Press, a combination of vodka, Kahlúa, Grand Marnier and espresso, accompanied by a slice of passion fruit cheesecake. My only disappointment was that they didn’t sell the t-shirts their waitresses wore, with an old picture of Chinese reporters on the front and the word “reporter” in English on the back.

 

After putting more than 14,000 steps in the second day, I was ready to return to the ship. But first, I managed to purchase a mah jongg set at a booth at the pier. It’s easy to bargain when you only have a small amount of yuan left. The merchant can take it or not, and they took it.

 

We left Shanghai in reverse – backing down the river about a mile before it was wide enough to turn around. Joyce and I enjoyed the sail away from her balcony, a few doors down from mine. It was too bad that we left before the stunning colors lit up the buildings. But we milked the visit for every minute until we were in the industrial part of the river and the sky was dark.

 

The Lido had been transformed into a Chinese night market for dinner, featuring local fruits, noodle dishes and other interesting options. After taking photos, I went to the dining room, ready to just sit and be served. Tomorrow is a welcome sea day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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We are really interested in the Shanghai Eats tour.  The HAL website does not include any indication that this is a small group but would be worth the 150 if limited to 12.  How did you find out it was a small group with a limit?

 

Thanks


Kevin

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Remember, the photos are with the blogs at http://www.writerondeck.com.

 

Okinawa: Laid-Back Japan for Tourists

 

Day 31, Grand Asia 2018

Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2018, Naha, Okinawa, Japan:

 

After a month of near-perfect weather, the tide is turning and affecting our itinerary. While I was in the city of Naha on Okinawa, Capt. Eversen announced that our stop tomorrow in Ishigaki, Japan, is canceled due to unfavorable weather conditions.

 

Ishigaki is a popular beach holiday island for the Japanese, part of the Ryukyu chain that also includes Okinawa. It is a tender port, meaning that we anchor instead of dock and take the ship’s tenders (which do double duty as lifeboats) to shore. It doesn’t take much in the way of rough seas to make the tendering process difficult. The remnants of super typhoon Yutu (aka Rosita in the Philippines) are heading toward China, bringing us cloudy and rainy weather. Just close enough to spoil a day at unspoiled beaches.

 

Instead, we left Okinawa in the early evening today as scheduled and will arrive in the following port, Keelung, Taiwan, at 1 p.m. tomorrow, a half-day earlier than scheduled. This will give us an overnight in this port city an hour from Taipei. The shore excursion team is busy today trying to book some afternoon tour opportunities for our early arrival.

 

Meanwhile, Okinawa provided a different view of Japan. Even the main street in the city seemed more like a tourist destination, with blocks of cheap souvenir shops offering T-shirts, flip-flops, magnets and mugs. There was no shuttle service, so most of us not on tours took off on the 25-minute walk to the main street. By 1 p.m., I had overachieved my 10,000-step goal.

 

After pausing to sketch the main street with its crowded sidewalks and palm trees, I found the folk arts and crafts center, which had beautiful silk weavings, artwork, glass and ceramics for sale at prices above my budget. Thank goodness I can shop for my new grandnephew, who will eventually grow into the T-shirt I bought him. Tours took passengers to a castle, a system of caves and a memorial to the deaths and devastation of World War II.

 

Perhaps because this island was governed by the United States after the war until it was returned to Japan in 1972, and perhaps because of the U.S. military base here, English is noticeably more prevalent than on the other major Japanese islands. Still, most tourists seem to be young Japanese visitors – never far from their smartphones.

 

Back on the ship, as if our housekeeping staff did not have enough to do, they had decorated the indoor pool area with dozens and dozens of towel animals – the Amsterdam Zoo. The weather is warmer, so I spent a pleasant few hours on my balcony finishing Eric Ripert’s memoir, 32 Yolks: From My Mother’s Table to Working the Line.

 

Of course, we couldn’t let Halloween pass without celebrating. The evening included a pumpkin-carving contest and a Monster Mash party. Most passengers, like me, made modest if any attempts to dress up. I wore an orange shirt with black pants and sweater. Joyce donned a witch-hat headband to go with her orange shirt and black pants. One table at dinner caused a stir when they all showed up in full costumes.

 

 

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Our Weather Luck Runs out at Taiwan

 

Day 32, Grand Asia 2018

Thursday, Nov. 1, Keelung, Taiwan:

 

The farther we sailed southwest toward Taiwan, the heavier the clouds. Soon we had light rain. By noon, as we approached the harbor at Keelung on the northern side of the island, the waves became choppy. The small pilot boat tossed and turned as it drew alongside the ship so the brave (or crazy) pilot could step to the rope ladder of the Amsterdam.

 

Our original plan was to anchor today at Ishigaki, Japan, to enjoy the sun and beaches. But as the remnants of Typhoon Yutu neared Hong Kong, the seas at distant Ishigaki were still too rough to take the tenders to shore. And no one wanted to go to the beach in the rain, anyway.

 

Once we were docked in Keelung in the early afternoon, some passengers ventured out in the steady rain to explore. Others like me stayed on board. I watched from the outdoor covered promenade as passengers returned to the ship carrying the umbrellas but few shopping bags from their brief sojourns ashore. A night market is only a few blocks away, but I waited to hear some reports before deciding not to head out tonight. I’ll be on a foodie tour in Taipei tomorrow, anyway.

 

I used what essentially became for me a sea day to catch up on writing and posting blogs, adding watercolor to my journal, appliquéing a few more pieces to a quilt block and chatting with friends.

 

Despite the weather, a fireboat welcomed us to Keelung with sprays of water. In the harbor, I spotted a reminder of my career in telecommunications – the Alcatel-Lucent LODBROG, a ship designed to lay cable under the sea.

 

Once we docked, we watched Chinese cruise line Star Cruises’ Aquarius expertly back the huge ship into the berth ahead of us. I sat on the balcony to sketch the hillsides surrounding the harbor. The air was muggy but still, and the covered balcony protected me from the steady drizzle.

 

All in all, it was a lazy day – and enjoyable way to pass the time while the rain fell.

 

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The Fine Art of Making Perfect Dumplings

 

Day 33, Grand Asia 2018

Friday, Nov. 2, Taipei, Taiwan:

 

At some point while traveling to nearly a dozen ports in Japan and China, you realize that you’ve seen your fill of temples and shrines, just like many European tourists eventually tire of cathedrals and castles.

 

That’s when a foodie tour is just the thing, and we had a great one today in Taiwan.

 

Din Tai Fung opened in Taipei in 1972, specializing in xiaolongbao (soup dumplings). It shortly was named as one of 10 restaurants worldwide that inspires a pilgrimage and subsequently expanded throughout Asia. In 2013 it was ranked the best restaurant in Asia and in 2015 as one of the top 50 restaurants in the world. Some locations have been awarded Michelin stars. Now you can visit Din Tai Fung at west coast locations in the United States, but we were here where it all began in Taipei, Taiwan.

 

We arrived an hour before the restaurant opened for lunch and entered through a double line of cute Taiwanese young women – one to assist each of us in making the dumplings. The women have been selected for training before going to work in overseas locations. They helped us don aprons, hats with hairnets and masks and then mainly cheered us on as we slowly tried to form 18 perfect folds in each dumpling.

 

Once we each filled a bamboo steamer tray, they held fun signs for pictures and cheered our success. My awesome assistant, Nayumi, may just be a friend for life!

 

Next we moved to dining tables and sampled spicy cucumbers and tea while we awaited the unveiling of our dumplings after steaming. I had put one dumpling made by a professional in the middle of my tray, which put mine to shame.

 

But I must say that the flavor of mine was just as good, beyond the big wad of dough on the top. I first sipped the soup from the inside and then finished the pork dumping in one bite. You can probably guess which ones are mine and which are the chef made:

 

Our lunch didn’t end there. Following our own dumplings was course after course of more dumplings (truffle, vegetable, spicy shrimp, crab, etc.), pot stickers, shrimp and pork shao-mai, hot-and-sour soup and shrimp fried rice. Our individual assistants stood by to refill our tea, swap out dirty plates and mix the perfect blend of vinegar and soy sauce for our garlic, which had been sliced into incredibly thin matchsticks.

 

The meal ended with the most wonderful chocolate dumplings.

 

We didn’t want to leave, but they sent us on the way with individual pineapple cakes. Tom Cruise is reported to have learned to make dumplings at the same Din Tai Fung location at Taipei 101, but it is hard to imagine that even he got better service and attention than we did.

 

Speaking of Taipei 101, it is currently the sixth tallest building in the world, and when opened in 2004 was the tallest. It is 101 stories high and designed to look like a bamboo shoot that keeps extending itself higher and higher. The low clouds obscured the upper levels of the building, with the top occasionally peaking through.

 

The ground floors are an upscale mall, where we had an hour to shop after eating. By now, the line to eat at Din Tai Fung was 70 minutes long. The smart people in our 14-person tour group spent the time getting some steps logged. I quickly found the Apple Store and used its superfast WiFi to upload all my dumpling photographs. It would have taken an hour minimum on the ship.

 

We started our tour with a walk down an open-air market street, despite the rain that lingered all day from yesterday. The merchants were friendly, waving and encouraging us closer for photographs. I couldn’t resist adding an umbrella to my Asian collection. They have such cute designs, unlike what I see at home.

 

After lunch and shopping, we stopped at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall to watch the hourly changing of the guard in front of a giant bronze statue of the famous leader of the Republic of China. It was a fine display of military precision.

 

Dinner was another gala night, with the theme of bygone glamorous days. Our dinner friends Judy and Glenn were decked out – she with a beautiful lace-embellished black dress and a glitzy headband with feather from the 1920s. They brought outfits for each of the dozen or so theme dinners – it’s a good thing they are in a Neptune Suite with lots of closets. I brought a few nice cocktail dresses and tops with black slacks.

 

Following dinner was a Chocolate Surprise at 9 p.m. on the Upper Promenade – the deck with the lounges and public areas. I went looking to see what it was and found waiters carrying small chocolate treats, such as the tiny cone with chocolate mouse and white meringue that I sampled.

 

 

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A Night to Remember in Hong Kong

 

Day 36, Grand Asia 2018

Monday, Nov. 5, 2018, Hong Kong:

 

I keep thinking this cruise can’t get any better, and then it does.

 

Our berth in Hong Kong is at Kai Tak, the site of the old Hong Kong airport turned into a cruise port on Kowloon. It’s not an ideal location, although if you go somewhere high on the ship you can see that you are virtually surrounded by skyscrapers.

 

The best view of Hong Kong, though, is from room 2710 in The Peninsula Hotel. That’s where I stayed overnight instead of on the ship. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

 

A friend on this cruise has always wanted to have high tea at The Peninsula, known as the Grande Dame of the Far East. She heard that the line for a table for tea could be long, and she isn’t a fan of standing in line. So she decided to splurge and book a harbor-view room, never dreaming that the hotel will give her a room on the top floor. And lucky me – she invited me to join her. I said only if she would let me pay for the tea, and we struck a deal.

 

On the Amsterdam’s first day in Hong Kong, shuttles took passengers to two different subway stations, each of which also had a mall. We opted instead for a taxi to The Peninsula, and it was only 100 HKD, or about $13. Our room wasn’t ready so we left our overnight bags and walked a few blocks to the Tsim Sha Tsui Star Ferry terminal, where we took the iconic boat across the harbor to Hong Kong Island. We wandered up the elevated walkway a few blocks to the Landmark, a – well, a landmark grouping of office buildings, hotels, high-end shops and restaurants.

 

Looking down to the street, we saw thousands of young adults seeming to shop, fill large cardboard boxes with their purchases, tape them closed and address them, we guess for shipping. Hundreds of others were sitting on flattened boxes for blocks around, eating. We could never figure out if this was normal activity and what exactly they were doing. It seemed more than “maid’s day off,” as Sunday can be known in Hong Kong.

 

We found lunch at Le Salon de Thé de Joël Robuchon, a more casual offering from this 3-Michelin-star chef. Our small sandwiches were just what we wanted, because we had reservations at 5 p.m. for high tea at The Peninsula. At a Starbucks in the mall (they really are everywhere), we also saw our first signs of Christmas. I guess it is to be expected as Halloween has passed.

 

While walking around the area waiting for our “tea-time,” I was amazed at the use of bamboo in Hong Kong as scaffolding – not only on small projects but also on high-rise buildings at well.

 

Back at the hotel, we were delighted to see we were on the top guest-room floor, with a stellar view of the harbor. For someone more accustomed to a Comfort Inn, I found little surprises throughout the room – tablet controls for lights, temperature, curtains and privacy next to EACH bed, the desk, the foyer and the bathroom. Every kind of amenity we could imagine – an all-in-one printer tucked away, a Nespresso machine, terry cloth and cotton robes, slippers, etc. A tray of melt-in-your-mouth chocolates and a bowl of fruit awaited us in front of the huge plate-glass window.

 

Earlier the line for tea in the lobby had stretched down the hall and around the corner. There were still about 25 people in line when we were seated – without a wait just as promised.

 

Tea is served in The Peninsula’s beautiful lobby, and it’s a delightful location. The scones were my favorite, with wonderful strawberry jam. We also had a selection of small sandwiches, bread crusts removed of course. By the time we ate our way up to the dessert tray, we were full and had them boxed to take to the room.

 

My only disappointment was with the service. We started with champagne, but were ready for our tea by the time our food came. But no one brought tea, or even stopped to ask how we were doing. We finally flagged a waiter, who then took another 10 minutes to bring the tea – 45 minutes after we sat down. Perhaps “no interruption” is the standard for service in Hong Kong or at The Peninsula, but it would have been nice to have a bit more attention. Still, a first-world problem, I know.

 

Back in our room last night, we were in a prime spot to watch the 8 p.m. laser light show from skyscrapers all up and down the harbor. Again, the location was perfect for the show. (I had missed the show last year as I flew in too late from a land tour to Xian.)

 

This morning we considered where to visit in Hong Kong, but decided we would just relax. We enjoyed gourmet coffee and the view from our room while I finished a sketch of the harbor I started the day before.

 

Then we moseyed downstairs to have a late morning breakfast in the hotel lobby. The crepes and French toast were a hit and the service a bit of a miss, again. While eating, we saw several friends from the ship, who confirmed that the shuttle today was parked alongside the Peninsula.

 

It was difficult to leave our little spot of paradise and luxury, but we have more ports awaiting us and more adventures ahead. I’ll never forget this one and doubt anything will top it.

 

 

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