South East Asia, April 2013
(with our friends Ann and Brian)
The following photos were taken in Bangkok, Thailand
Relaxing at our hotel in Bangkok
Shang-ri-La Hotel 
The pool area
Chao Phraya River, the River of Kings at night
the shops near the hotel
the inevitable MacDonalds
living accommodation - seen on our boat trip
a few of the 300,000 monks in Thailand
monks in training
Wat Phra Kaeo Temple
Tuk Tuk
Garden Ornaments for sale
Wat Arun, also known as the temple of Dawn
The Golden Buddha
Two giant demons, Thotsakan and Sahatsadecha, guarding the eastern gate 
The following photos were taken in Hong Kong
On the Big Red Bus on route to Victoria Paek
Bamboo scaffolding
Entrance to the Peak Tram
Looking down from Victoria Peak
Relaxing at sea
Relaxing at sea
Evening Dress
Smart dress for the evenings
The following photos were taken in Shanghai, China
The Bund with the famous Oriental Pearl Tower across the river
Waiting for a bus
Brian accosted by two beggars
Nighttime on the Shanghai Bund
The following photos were taken in Nagasaki, Japan
Ground Zero, site of the atom bomb blast
500 metres above this site, the atomic bomb exploded at 11.02 a.m. on 5 August 1945
A survivor's story
The iconic statue by Seibo Kitamura
The right hand points to the bomb in the sky and the left to appeal for peace
The consequences of the bomb
A section of the destroyed Urakami Cathedral
This street has now been renamed Fuggen Street (PC gone mad)
Ann on her balcony, too ill to come with us.
A Nagasaki send-off in style
Leaving Nagasaki
The following photos were taken in Busan, South Korea 
The sea food market - all I remember about Busan
Gross
On Guard
My god it did smell
A cold, wet day
Another great send-off
Formal Evenings - my favourite cruise event
Captain Phillips
The following photos were taken in Beijing, China 
Are the youngsters taking the piss or in training?
I'd like to think the former but they would probably get locked up
Beijing's Tiananmen Square with the Gate of Heavenly Peace
Road sweeper & rubbish collector, chinese style
Never sure if you can take photos of these guys
Street market so popular in China
Starfish on a stick - not for me
The Great Wall at Juyongguan
Big steps
Playing cards
To the sound of music
Just passing the time
Temple of Heaven
A Tang dynasty (618-806 AD) sheng, or mouth organ (modern version)
The 2008 Olympic Stadium, also known as the Birds Nest
Entrance to the Summer Palace
The Summer Palace
A fat Buddha LOL
The Rickshaw Mechanic (siesta time)
Rickshaw Ride
A Happy Worker
Playing some sort of flute
Our first stop was Bangkok where we stayed at the Shangri-La Hotel. Unfortunately on the flight over by Air France, Jane ate some warmed up chicken and suffered with food poisening for the first day or so. However, she recovered and we spent 3 days sightseeing in Bangkok. We visited the temple of Wat Phra Kaeo which is located in the center of the Grand Palace. It’s the most important temple of Thailand and includes the famous Emerald Buddha statue and the entire complex is decorated with countless statues (well worth the visit).
We also visited the smaller temple of Wat Arun, also known as the temple of Dawn, built before 1656 and in many ways, its iconic shape is better known than Wat Phra Kaeo as it is on the back of a 10 Baht coin. The full name of the temple is Wat Arun Ratchawararam Ratchawora Mahavihara (a bit of a mouthful and not used these days).
We saw a bit of Bangkok by riverboat and also took a Tuk Tuk back to our hotel later one night. This was quite an experience travelling 4 in a tiny Tuk Tuk plus the driver at what seemed like 60 mph - great fun.
On the final day we were due to travel to our cruise ship which is located at Laem Chabang (around an hour from Bangkok) but as part of the tour itinery we were supposed to first go to Pattaya beach but unfortunately I had by this time contracted influenza B (although I didn't know it at the time) and did not feel up to the beach trip and so we travelled seperately to the ship whilst Ann and Brian went to the beach with the others first.
As a consequence of catching influenza B I was forced to stay in my cabin for what turned out to be a bit of nightmare, especially for Jane who had recovered fully from food poisening and was restricted because of my illness. At one point I had to be taken to the medical centre where I was put on a fluids drip for a couple of hours (not taking in enough fluids in my cabin). We also missed three of the ports that we stopped at (Singapore, Ho Chi Min City and Nha Trang, Vietnam) but eventually after 7 days I was given the all clear and we resumed living a normal life on board.
Our next stop was Hong Kong, which of course was no longer a British colony in 2013, and we had already planned our visit, namely to get to the top of Victoria Peak which is the highest point on Hong Kong Island. We travelled by Red Bus (my favourite form of transport in places I don't know well) to the funicular tram station where we caught the famous Peak Tram up to the Sky Terrace for a 360 viewing of Hong Kong.
Whilst on the Red Bus we did see an amusing sight of a highrise building with scaffolding erected for some reason and the scaffolding was made of canes roped together; I think health and safety might have something to say about this back home! The sky-scrapers remind me of those in Chicago with different colours and mirror effect reflecting off adjacent buildings.
Victoria Peak was, however, well worth the visit with stunning views and a funicular railway (the Peak Tram) to get you there and back.
We then spent two days at see which was very restful during which time we swam in the pool, drank by the poolside, went to the theatre, ate well and generally had a relaxing, stress-free time. Our ship was the Diamond Princess which was recently involved in the corona virus scare and quarantined with everyone on board. Thankfully nothing like that affected our time on board.
We arrived in Shanghai early morning of the 17th April and had a full day to look forward including both day-time and night-time trips into Shanghai to an area called the Bund. The Bund (or embankment) is a mile-long stretch of waterfront promenade along the Huangpu River and looks out across the river to the famous Oriental Pearl Tower, which is a 468-meter-tall radio and TV tower (Dongfang Míngzhuta) in Pudong-Park on the east bank of the Huangpu River.
From there we caught a hop-on/off Red Bus into the city (to Huaihai Road) where Brian was accosted by two smily Chinese beggars; we managed to walk away but they engaged Brian in some sort of discussion and I think managed to extract a bit of cash off him.
After returning to the ship to prepare for the evening we went back on the shuttle to the same place and spent some time admiring the small pleasure boats going up and down the river before eventually returning to the ship for our departure to our next stop, Nagasaki.
Another day at sea followed before we arrived at Nagasaki, the sight of the second atomic bomb that finallly ended the war and clearly a visit to ground zero was absolutely essential for this visit. A tip for anyone going there from a ship, don't take up the organised trip which costs around £15 pp as we took a short bus ride at a cost of about 20p and found ourselves with the same group that had gone on an organised trip; we even had a couple of very helpful locals show us which bus to catch. Unfortunately Ann was feeling unwell on this day and unable to come with us.
Ground zero is a very sobering place when you consider the number of people killed and maimed as a consequence of dropping the bomb, although it can and is argued that this saved many more lives than by prolonging the war; I think this is a moot point bearing in mind almost everyone killed by the bomb was a civilian. There are some plaques (left) that tell the story and consequences of this very sad event. We took photos in front of the Peace Statue erected in 1955 by the sculptor Seibo Kitamura with his own dedication beside it. It is now the site of the annual 'Peace Ceremony' and an iconic expression of Nagasaki’s “aspiration for the abolition of nuclear weapons and the realization of lasting world peace. The official explanation is that the right hand of the statue points up to the explosion of the atomic bomb while the left hand, extended horizontally, symbolizes peace.
The first thing you see as you enter Peace Park is the fountain (shown in the photos below) which is dedicated to the many who died as they called for water, water...The inscribed passage is taken from the diary of a young woman who experienced the bombing. She wrote, 'I was so terribly thirsty...' At the epicenter of the blast is the Hypocenter Cenotaph with a section of the destroyed Urakami Cathedral located nearby.
The iconic statue by Seibo Kitamura draws most visitors. The 10 meter high statue has the right hand here pointing towards the sky symbolizing the threat of the nuclear bomb, and the left arm with its arm open is a symbole for eternal peace.
Standing near the statues was a guy who seemed to be a survivor of the bomb (although he looked remarkably young at well into his 80's to have been there at the time) with a plaque telling his story; even if he was playing the part, I'm sure that this is the true story of one survivor. He was holding a ladle which I assume was in recognition of the plea for water from survivors. In the survivor's words.
"I would have died unless my boss had told me to do that irregular job fixing parts in the other building. We were transferring to the new workplace. The atomic bomb exploded 1.1 kilometers from my workshop of Mitsubishi Arsenal Co, Ohashi Factory. The bomb blast blew me away 14 meters from my job site. Luckily I was behind a huge pillar that helped save my life. Survived were only two of us out of all the others. All the others perished. As an atomic bomb survivor I want people throughout the world to know how horrible the atomic bombing was and how valuable peace is".
As we left port that evening, a local group of young musicians played as we sailed away which was a nice touch that I've seen elsewhere on several occasions since.
Our next stop was Busan (pronounced Pusan), which I had not even heard of before visiting and to be honest there wasn't much there, mainly an outside fish market where all sorts of sea creatures were for sale, some not even dead yet, and boy did it smell! On this occasion we were welcomed into port by a dance group and a guy playing a sax. We walked around the Jagalchi Fish Market, the largest seafood market in Korea which specialises in fresh, raw or even live seafood.
We returned to the ship in time to change and prepare for the 'formal evening' one of my favourite activities when cruising.
After another day at sea we reached Beijing which was the end of our cruise which, apart from the illnss at the start, we had all enjoyed and seen places that would have otherwise been difficult in a single holiday. We had three days in Beijing before flying home and were determined to make the most of it, with organised trips out to famous places such as Tiananmen Square, the Imperial Palace and the Forbidden City, the Great Wall of China, the Temple of Heaven and the Summer Palace.
Our first stop-off was Tiananmen Sq, scene of the famous 1989 face-off between one man with two shopping bags standing in the way of government tanks cracking down on a peaceful student demonstration. He was pulled away by two men and no-one knows to this day what happened to him but he's become the defining image of the protests. In April 1998, Time magazine included the 'Tank Man' or 'Unknown Rebel' as he became known in a feature titled 'Time 100: The Most Important People of the Century.'
The Imperial Palace which is part of the Forbidden City complex is massive and now almost entirely open to the public. We were cautious in taking photos of the soldiers on duty in the square and loved the man cleaning up rubbish on a mobility scooter of sorts. They have such great names for places within the city such as 'the Gate of Moral Standards' (actually the place where soldiers on duty lived) and the 'Hall of Consolation' and 'Hall of Mental Cultivation' (where the emperor and empress lived during the Ming Dynasty) and the 'Temple of Heaven' (an imperial complex of religious buildings). The Forbidden City was known by the name as outside visitors were forbidden from entering for five centuries during the Ming and Qing Dynasties.
On the way out of the Forbidden City we left via the The Imperial Garden which is located outside of the Gate of Terrestrial Tranquility (another great name) and back to our hotel to prepare for a trip out in the evening. We were taken to an outdoor market where we could have sampled starfish on sticks and other delightful cooked/raw meats and fish; we declined but it was well worth the trip to see what the locals like to eat as a speciality. Not quite a McDonalds burger, although they were also available.
The following day we went to see the Great Wall at a place called Juyongguan. I always thought Chinese soldiers were short in those days and if so they must have had great difficulty climbing some of the steps, especially at the bottom, which were very high; the upside, I guess, is that they were easier to defend. The Juyongguan Great Wall is one of the three most famous passes along the Great Wall of China, together with Jiayuguan and Shanhaiguan.
We left the Great Wall for our final visit of the day to the The Temple of Heaven situated in the southeastern part of central Beijing that used to be visited by the Emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties for annual ceremonies of prayer to Heaven for good harvest. This seemed a favourite place for the locals to meet, play cards, drink coffee and play musical instruments; the one shown in the slides below is called Sheng, one of the oldest Chinese reeded wind instruments.
For our final day we were taken to the Summer Palace and on the way passed the Olympic Stadium, designed for the 2008 Olympic Games and situated in the Chaoyang District of Beijing Cit. It is affectionately known as the Bird's Nest and is considered one of the key engineering marvels in the world today; it is due to be used for the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics.
The Summer Palace is the UNESCO cultural heritage site and we spent the morning admiring the beautiful lakes, buildings and gardens and after lunch in a local restaurant we went for a ride in a rickshaw. Whilst there we had a wonderful photo of the mechanic for the rickshaws who clearly had also just had his lunch and was enjoying a siesta. We also took a photo of three very sombre locals dressed up for something and brandishing fake (they looked fake) guns.
Later in the evening, after several chinese meals that came as part of the holiday package, we had really had enough of bland Chinese food (nothing like the meals we expect from the take-away back home) and went out from the hotel to a local McDonalds for a burger. Apart from the food we really did enjoy our stay in Beijing.
We returned home the following day having had a good holiday spoilt a bit by the bouts of illness we both had, especially me, but having seen places we would otherwise probably have missed. The highlights for me were...
The food on the ship was very good but the food in China was not. Would we go again, probably not, at least not on this type of all-inclusive, organised holiday as, not unsurprisingly from experiences since, the food was fairly average. However, there are places we were not able to see in China due to the great distances and a more focused holiday might be better sometime in the future. Coronavirus permitting we'll see.
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