The Not-so-grey Nomad takes a slow boat to China: March 2011

SUMMARY

We thought the easiest way to do this was to summarise each place we visited, then finish with a general overall summarisation. So here goes:-

SYDNEY

Sydney never fails to excite us. We are very fortunate that we have now visited 4 times and each time we have found new things and new places to see. The Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House are amazing and we could sit and look at them all the time. I think we pretty much covered what we did within the blog.

Would we go back – Yes, yes and yes.

PORT DOUGLAS, AUSTRALIA

Apart from a very brief visit in 2006 when we sailed out of Port Douglas to the Great Barrier Reef, this was the first time we had been here. It's not very big, but certainly what we saw was interesting in that a lot of the shops on the main street were full of designer labels and the estate agencies windows were full of expensive apartments. We had nothing planned here and just spent the time strolling around, window shopping, etc.

Would we go back – Probably not.

DARWIN, AUSTRALIA

Darwin struck us very much an 'outback town'. Although it is the capital of the Northern Territory it is nothing like Sydney or Melbourne. We couldn't help wondering what the residents of Darwin would make of Sydney and its skyscrapers. I suspect most tourists visiting Darwin are simply passing through on their way to the Litchfield National Park and Kakadu.

Would we go back – Only as a gateway as mentioned above.

BALI, INDONESIA

One thing we've learned since our visit is that there are no planning laws which probably explains why we saw lovely buildings sitting alongside buildings which looked pretty rundown. We can't really comment too much about Bali as we saw very little, but those people who went up north to the villages said it was very pretty. The subject of toilets has cropped up throughout the blog and for this I make no apologies. We felt that if you are about to embark on a trip to Asia you need those facts that people who have been can give you and my (Rosalyn) experience here is actually quite funny. The stop at the Batik Factory was quite long and needs must so I joined the queue for the Ladies – why is there always a queue? - unfortunately what no-one realised until they moved along was that the Mens' was next to the Ladies and the door was wide open!! All I will say is that it wasn't a pretty sight and although we all tried not to look somehow we did.

Would we go back- Probably not

HONG KONG

We returned to Hong Kong, having had one night there on the way out to Australia. Our table companions decided to visit the Big Buddha on Lantau Island, but we just 'wandered'. Hong Kong is one of those places that is somehow very tiring and I think the best approach is probably to have some sort of itinerary in mind.

Would we go back – Yes, would like to visit Macau plus some of the other smaller islands which have nature trails. etc.

TAIWAN

We enjoyed our time here. In the few hours we had ashore we probably did a fair amount, but of course we only brushed the surface; apart from the journey to and from the ship we only saw the city centre, which probably gives a false idea anyway. Once again we were struck by the size of the skyscrapers; what is amazing is that, as in China, although you know it's a modern city you are still surprised by the skyscrapers, etc. I would have liked the opportunity to wander round the city centre but time and rain conspired against us. What we did see was a city full of Western shops and full of people.

Would we go back – I don't know. We both agree that we would have liked more time at the Museum.

NAGASAKI

Well, what a lovely surprise Nagasaki was. As I'm writing this our thoughts are with the people of Japan and the terrible time they are experiencing. Nagasaki is a very long way from the affected area, but I'm sure that when some of the older people look at the pictures of the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami they will see parallels with both Hiroshima and Nagasaki after the 2 atom bombs. The Daily Mail did, indeed, run a series of pictures of Hiroshima and Sendai and area, and they are eerily similar.

Would we go back – I don't know. We feel we've seen as much as there is, but of course we never ventured beyond the confines of the city. We would have liked to see the Glover Gardens when the flowers are in bloom and the harbour/marina area is lovely.

CHINA

I've put Shanghai and Dalian together. Dalian in some ways was a little disappointing. They say it really is at its best from April through to October and as it is a seaside resort favoured by the Chinese, then that would make sense. Maybe if we'd visited then we would feel different, but as it is we wouldn't hurry back and I could even see us staying on the ship rather than do any excursions. Shanghai was the complete opposite; as our first port in China we didn't know what to expect. I know we'd seen pictures on the TV and I knew that we weren't that naive that we thought we were going to a backward city, but its modernity and vibrancy took us by surprise. Upmarket shops sit side by side with 'ordinary shops', the traffic is completely mad and there is an urgency in the air that it (and China) is a city in a hurry. It was cold and misty but the lights of the shops shone out like beacons wherever we looked.

Would we go back – Dalian; no. Shanghai; yes, but May time before it gets too hot.

And Finally

BEIJING

Simply breathtaking. Sheer opulence everywhere you looked. We know there is poverty outside of the big cities and the young people are abandoning the land in search of the riches they perceive are within the city. This abandonment, together with a chronic water shortage, could just possibly produce problems in the future, but the Chinese are looking at ambitious plans to bring water from the rivers to the cities. One thing we did see and I forgot to mention were the many 'trolley buses' that trundle round the city. People in Hull will certainly remember (as we do!) these buses which ran by means of poles which were attached to overhead electric power lines. I'm sure we all remember when the poles became detached that the conductor had a long stick which he used to guide the poles back onto the wire. The Chinese version can obviously run without being attached, so they are able to negotiate obstacles, etc without any holdup. We packed an awful lot into our 2½ days, all of which we have detailed in our blog, but we would have liked another day in Beijing. Circumstances dictated that we were unable to see the Forbidden City properly and Tianamen Square properly so we would have liked to have gone back and 'done' them properly. The other place we would have liked to visit is the Silk Market, although on reflection it is perhaps just as well we didn't as we would have only spent even more money! There are absolutely loads we could tell you, but the truth is as we have said several times now, you have to see it to believe it.

Would we go back – Probably, there is enough in Beijing alone to warrant a return visit.

DIAMOND PRINCESS/PRINCESS CRUISE LINE

We've put these two together because, obviously, one has a direct bearing on the other. In some respects we were disappointed with Princess Cruises as we felt that everything they did meant us paying for it. I'm not saying this doesn't happen with other cruise lines, but somehow we felt Princess was 'much more in our face'. We have no specific grumbles but we did make a list of comments which we have e-mailed to the Head Office in California. Not surprisingly we have not had a reply. The Diamond Princess is the biggest ship we have ever sailed on and even by the last day I (Rosalyn) was still getting lost and I'm pretty sure there were places we never even saw. We liked the idea of a balcony but the compromise of being able to do a cruise is to have an inside cabin and work on the basis you are only in the cabin to sleep. The television in the room has a channel which is linked to a camera on the ship's bridge so we always had a fair idea of what the weather was like when we woke up. We also understand that if you have the cabin to the very front of the ship you cannot use the balcony unless you are in port as it is claimed that the lights, etc from the cabin interfere with the ship's navigation, plus someone said that it also overlooks the crews' quarters. I am not sure which if all of this is right, but apparently it does state this problem somewhere either in the brochure or on the website; having said that, I've had a quick look and couldn't find anything, but as people we know spoke to the occupants of the cabin and verified this, it must be correct.

Did we have a good time on the ship – a resounding yes, although this is partly because we had such good table companions. Would we sail with Princess again – despite the comments we've made above the answer would be yes. We always look at the itinerary first and then the ship so I think if the initial ship was Princess, we would look to see if any other cruise line was offering the same itinerary, if they weren't then we would book with Princess.

ITINERARY

What made us choose this cruise was the most obvious answer of all – the itinerary. Our initial intention had been to look at a cruise which did the 'top half of Australia, ie; Sydney to Perth. We have done a cruise round 'the bottom of Australia, ie; Perth to Sydney via Melbourne and this would have 'completed the circle', but such was the opportunity to visit China that any other cruise simply faded away in comparison. The only drawback with this itinerary was one we had not really taken into account – the number of days at sea. The longest time was 4 days, 2 more than we had experienced before and we were just a little anxious as to how we would cope, but fortunately the weather was good, the company was good and we just rested, ate and slept the time away! On reflection, perhaps we should have got more involved with things that were taking place throughout the ship, but neither of us are particularly 'joining-in' people and we were more than content with what we did. Would we like longer than 4 days – I don't think so, not unless you force yourself into some of the ship activities.

Well, I think I've waffled on long enough. The blog will close now with a selection of some of the funnier things we saw and with a regret that we didn't take more pictures – eg. as we were about to board the cable car up to the Great Wall, there was a wonderful sign of do's and don'ts which included the classic 'Do Not Board the Cable Car If You Are A Drunkard Or Insane'. Now that would have been a picture!