http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/MACDONALD/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from MACDONALD en-us Sun, 29 Nov 2009 11:34:59 +0000 Sun, 29 Nov 2009 11:34:59 +0000 Day 23 Wednesday April 23 2008Sadly our great voyage of discovery nears an end and this will be my last shipboard bulletin. We enter Singapore waters tonight and expect to pick up the Port Kelang pilot at 0430. That should mean berthing about 0600 and by the time the usual shoreside formalities are dealt with we should be down the Tosca gangway for the last time about two hours later after http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/blog-269654.html Day 22 Tuesday April 22 2008Mon capitaine reports that wersquore now only running a day late and wersquoll hit Port Kelang on Thursday. There was a chance that wersquod miss the flight back from Kuala Lumpur to Dubai and wersquod just have to stay on board to Southampton. I suppose there could be worse fates. Only hope for Southampon now is that one of the dragonchasing fishing boats http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/blog-269653.html Day 21 Monday April 21 2008Disaster struck as went left Yantian. A small skiboat came scudding from the blind side of the Vshaped quay just as our stern tug was revving to push us off. The skiboat capsized in the tugrsquos backwash and the two occupants disappeared in the whirlpool swept under the pier at best at worst into the tugrsquos screws. Consternation on the bridge but the b http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/blog-269651.html Day 20 Sunday April 20 2008Classical music devotees will be familiar with the Peer Gynt Suite and the lsquodawnrsquo passage which follows the tempest. All calm serenity and relief after the rollicking storm that came before. True Tosca is Verdi and not Grieg but if we can be allowed a bit of musical borrowing Griegrsquos work would be very appropriate today.Typhoon Neoguri blew her http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/blog-269649.html Day 19 Saturday April 19 2008Typhoon Neoguri is upon us. Our scheduled 0900 departure from Kowloon was delayed until almost 1300 a combination of last nightrsquos late entry and the unwelcoming conditions outside the harbour. Heavy rain lashed down all morning and we nosed our way into the channel and the open sea in very limited visibility. A set of eight giant wipers clean the bridge wind http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/blog-269646.html Day 18 Friday April 18 2008Two days at sea are giving a chance to relax after all the hectic shorehopping. 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 Shang http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Hong-Kong/Hong-Kong-Island/blog-267971.html Day 17 Thursday April 17 2008We cleared Shanghai at around 0400 and now have two days at sea before hitting Hong Kong tomorrow evening this time docking in the more amenable Kowloon area rather than the container city of Chiwan that we visited on the outbound run. Wersquore slipping very easily back into the rhythm of shipboard life eat sleep occasional forays on deck and to the bridge http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Shanghai/blog-267604.html Day 16 Wednesday April 16 2008We were off Shanghai about 0500 this morning but decided to stay abed for docking as rain and mist looked like messing up any prospect of new visual delights. Good decision as we were still in the same position on rousing for breakfast at 0730. The weather delay meant we were not alongside until about 1030 so our shoreside trip is postponed for a few hours when http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/blog-267603.html Day 15 Tuesday April 15 2008Navigation is easier in daytime and the light thrown off by a city the size of Beijing makes celestial observation wellnigh impossible. Thatrsquos the only explanation for the England football fansrsquo failure to find their mark last night. Especially as they were so close. The Forbidden City was down the road a wee bit and the soughtafter hotel just a block http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/blog-266945.html Day 14 Monday April 14 2008FORBIDDEN CITY Beijing 1030 The dateline is not as expected but at least it defused a potential boxing match. Maybe that was due to visiting the Hall of Domestic Harmony and the Hall of Mental Tranquility. It certainly marked a reasonably auspicious ending to a trip that began with high hopes but deteriorated to fiasco levels along the way. The shiprsquos agent h http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Beijing/blog-266944.html Day 12 Saturday April 12 2008Linda is a great devotee of Patrick OrsquoBrien author of the books on which the movie Master and Commander was based. The novels deal with the maritime adventures of Captain Jack Aubrey and his sidekick Stephen Maturin and make great reading even if yoursquore not particularly interested in the sea and ships. OrsquoBrien wrote with apparently consummate http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/blog-265888.html Day 11 Friday April 11 2008The weather has turned sour on us. The misty moistness that prevailed in the Hong Kong approaches held good until we got back on board from Chiwan but just after casting off warps in the early hours of yesterday the fog closed in. The poor visibility meant we couldnrsquot clear the coastal traffic with the required degree of safety even with radar so there wa http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Shanghai/blog-265622.html Day 10 Thursday April 10 2008Before we were even off the gangplank at Chiwan last night we were accosted by offers of lsquoYou want happee Show you good time. Lookee lookeersquo All of a sudden the York and the Paranormal Dubairsquos leading institutions devoted to multicultural exchanges seemed the epitome of genteel restraint. At least half dozen were competing for our attenti http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/blog-265304.html Day 9 Wednesday April 9 2008Irsquove never been one for gloating. Those who know me well will vouch that the words lsquoI told you sorsquo are not even in my phrasebook but being proved right is always a source of profound satisfaction. And so it turned out today. Yet again. By midmorning we were making excellent progress towards Hong Kong while I was busy researching how serial time http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Hong-Kong/blog-265027.html Day 8 Tuesday April 8 2008Hands up all who remember lsquoThe Good Ship Venusrsquo. It used to be a very popular rugby club ditty in my youth. Nowadays or so Irsquom told the insidious creep of political correctness has all but eradicated the music and poetry that had been handed down through generations of beery singalongs. For all I know lsquoThe Good Ship Venusrsquo may well b http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/blog-265025.html Day 7 Monday April 7 2008Itrsquos now a week since we boarded the Tosca and therersquos still a sense of unreality to the whole affair. What began late last year as an interesting possibility gradually took shape but there was always a mental questionmark about actually making it happen. We knew that some cargo ships carried passengers but how many where to and how to arrange it Mr G http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/blog-264225.html Day 6 Sunday April 6 2008The expression lsquoshipshapersquo is taking on a whole new meaning. It signifies a bodyline of sorts that gets cuddlier by the day. If I could loosen another reef and let the waistband run free I would. Trouble is there are no more spare notches available. But at last I can now boast a genuine hourglass figure. The top half billows over the belt and the b http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Singapore/blog-263898.html Day 5 Saturday April 5 2008Therersquos more to this seafaring business than most of you probably realise. Contrary to popular assumption wersquore not just idling the time away watching the waves passing or waving to the passing watches. Far from it. Wersquore now officially crew members or lsquosupernumerairesrsquo as the skipper puts it and must willingly discharge all the re http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Singapore/blog-263596.html Day 4 Friday April 4 2008Our French hosts are so thoughtful. Breakfast comes with the menus for lunch and dinner just in case your appetite is faltering. When you stop drooling long enough to read past the lsquoplatteur de fromagersquo you notice that the menu carries extra bits of information. Safety drill at 14.00 antipiracy briefing at 16.00 wersquore about to cross a time zone s http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Sri-Lanka/blog-263593.html Day 3 Thursday April 3 2008The rocket launcher has to wait for another day. Not even a cutlass to be had. So much for antipiracy measures. All we have is a lockdown all external doors and hatchways to be barred and shuttered double watch at cardinal points and no promenading on the foredeck. In Nelsonrsquos day wersquod have had carronades primed and ready and the fuses lit for an i http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/blog-262912.html