Day 18

Day 18 - Friday, April 18 2008

Two days at sea are giving a chance to relax after all the hectic shore-hopping. Great potential there for a Spoonerism, and more opportunities will probably arise when we hit the fleshpots of Hong Kong this evening.

Meantime, all we have to do is lie back and enjoy the gradually warmer temperatures and a very smooth run. After the net cargo gain in Tianjin and Shanghai, we’re riding lower in the water and that seems to help muffle the throb of the engines and flatten the swells. Our cabin is also a wee bit closer to water level, so with porthole full open on the latch as it was through the night, we can hear the rhythmic swoosh of the waves on the hull. Almost like being under canvas again, and all in all, most enjoyable. The sky cleared last night to reveal a fullish moon, highlighting a white-capped sea that raced by hypnotically. At times like that, a life on the ocean wave is sheer heaven.

Mustn’t get too carried away, though. Typhoon Neoguri is lurking somewhere to the south of Hong Kong and plain sailing could well become a fond memory. That was part of the intelligence arising from a visit to the bridge earlier this morning, along with news of an attempted pirate attack to the south of us in the China Sea. Some excitement could be in store, one way or another.

Prophetic words. I wrote the few first paras before lunch and now mid-afternoon the wind has freshened to a stiff 35 knots, gusting upwards of 40 and blowing hard on our port beam. To compound matters we’ve made very good time on the southward run from Shanghai, but port congestion means our entry to Hong Kong has been delayed. The pilot was due on board at 1700 but the rendezvous is now postponed until 1830. We’ve had to reduce speed to compensate, doing less than two knots while rolling through 20 degrees in heavy swells. The sky’s closed in to a dull pewter and the ocean is slate-grey with contrasting patches of translucent emerald, a battleground for relentless battalions of creamy-ridged rollers that cascade against the hull to chuck gouts of spray reaching to just below our cabin up at F Deck level. This is more like it! We’re in Conrad waters, and even if I don’t really want to relive Typhoon down to the last shred of sail being ripped away, a wee sample won’t go amiss. The downside is that the latter-day Nigger of the Narcissus has found a new excuse for not washing the portholes or doing the ironing. Too much rolling, she claims. Nonsense! The ironing-board can easily be lashed down and she just has to be careful to avoid the hot embers falling out the back of the smoothing iron. She’s always going on about my allegedly scruffy appearance, forgetting my exalted status as a fashion icon that comes from being a regular contributor to the authoritative Men’s Style magazine. Yet now I’m supposed to go ashore in Hong Kong wearing creased oilskins and a crumpled sou’wester? There’s no pleasing some folk!

As it happened, the oilskins weren’t needed. The weather eased as we got closer to Hong Kong and by the time we came alongside the container terminal, you would never have guessed that conditions at sea earlier had been so like global financial markets. Pretty rocky.

Talking of container terminals (and I know this getting a bit repetitive) Kowloon’s is an a league of its own, admittedly from my limited exposure to such operations. Chiwan seemed huge at the time; Tianjin and Shanghai were even bigger. But this is an entirely different dimension - I’ve already used up the superlatives on the previous ones, so it’s difficult to do justice to the vastness of the site, the number of cranes, and the seemingly infinite number of boxes in the stacks.

It was gone 2100 by the time we were moored and shore pass formalities arranged. We joined about a dozen crew members for the trip to town, waiting at a bus stop just opposite our berth. Free shuttle buses service the terminal. Just as well, as it would have taken us all night to walk to the gate - if we could even have found it. And ours was only Gate 4! From there, a taxi into Kowloon cost about HK$65, about US$9 for a 15-minute ride. The Sheraton Hotel seemed a convenient starting point, bound to have wireless connection, and in the downtown heart so a handy exploration base. It also proved to be the finishing point. At HK$120 for wireless hookup - good for 24 hours - we had to make the most of it. Only after paying for that did we discover that the bar has a minimum spend rule - HK$200 per person. Should have checked first, but how do you find out before ordering? There was no option but to manfully slurp our way through the entry fee. As that only amounted to four beers each, no great difficulty. We even had a few more - just so I could get maximum value from the 24-hour internet payment, of course.

Despite being amply supplied with Tsingtao, Linda began making plaintive noises about wanting to see Kowloon, not sit in a hotel bar looking at the wall while I caught up with emails and news and sport websites. After putting up with her increasingly petulant whining for almost two hours, I could take no more. OK, OK, I’ll sever the connection and we’ll go walkabout and see the sights. Unfortunately, by then Kowloon had closed down for the night, so that was the end of that idea. I tried to explain that I’d been to Kowloon before so I’d tell her all about it over a nightcap in the cabin. She hadn’t missed much, really, just like being in Dubai except the signs are in Chinese instead of Arabic.

Even that olive branch didn’t help. Nor did it help when our arrival at Gate 4 coincided with the return of the crew, laden with spoils from their shopping spree and full of tales about all the interesting places they’d been to and the wondrous sights they’d seen. “Great, all I saw was Mr Wonderful here banging away at the keyboard and I could do that at home if I could be bothered without having to go halfway across the world…” etc etc etc.

We don’t sail till 0900 tomorrow so maybe there’s still time to summon Mr Fan for another trip to Beijing and the Hall of Domestic Harmony. At this rate, Typhoon Neoguri will be a pleasant diversion. Maybe I should check if my oilskins and sou’wester are ready. On the other hand… perhaps this isn’t exactly the right time.


Noon position 22◦21.06 N - 115◦23.30 E
Day’s run to noon - 533 miles
7,835 miles out from Khor Fakkan
Heading 263◦
Local time GMT+8
Average speed - 22.2 knots

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