Arrival in Asia

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Our limo arrived at our home at 4:45 AM and we began our trip to Asia. With few people in line at that hour we were rapidly at our gate and were soon on our way to Newark for transfer to a Boing 777 after a brief respite in the United Club. Most of the passengers were returning Chinese with many purchases from their American travels. We learned later that the cost difference of clothes (2/3^rdless) and liquor (1/2) among other things were the attractions. Our flight path took us across New England, Quebec, Labrador and Greenland to Northern China at 33,000 feet and -56 degrees. China appeared desolate and snow covered. Arriving in Beijing it was difficult to see the ground from the air because of the pollution, a condition that prevailed throughout our overnight stay. The new air terminal is expansive and endless with shuttle trains taking us to the baggage conveyor belts. We were again treated to the many Chinese asserting themselves to get as close as possible to the arriving bags. We were reminded by fellow passengers that our polite ways may not work here.

The Peninsula Hotel is an elegant hotel with excellent service and buffet restaurant. Our dinner, also provided by Regent Cruise Lines, was a mixture of European and oriental foods and wines and accompanies by three lovely ladies playing oriental stringed instruments. We enjoyed the company of other passengers taking the full 78 day cruise. Jet lag forced us to retire early so we could greet the gray dawn and, with packed bags, proceed to the lobby and a sumptuous buffet breakfast.

Our bus ride to the ship re-exposed us to Beijing’s famous traffic and the pollution continued right to the port, 2 ½ hours away. Built on reclaimed land, the cruise port is quite expansive, just as is the airport, and built within the last 20 years. The multilane roadways taking us to the port promises future construction but we were surprised to find few citizens along the roads.

Our departure is delayed by the Chinese officials being quite thorough in their examination of all passenger and crew passports. Overnight on the passage to Shanghai the ship’s engineer noticed some irregularities in the propulsion system which caused us to reduce our maximum speed to 16.5 knots which, in turn, caused us to miss our tidal window entering Shanghai’s Hangpu River. Thus, our arrival at the city is delayed until 7:30 PM, canceling all of this day’s excursions. However, we’ll be here until 1:00 AM the following night. Then we’ll skip our next port of call, Xiamen, to make Hong Kong on time. The upside is we have more time for the NPR lecturers on board who are sharing their knowledge of this country and also of NPR’s history and inner workings. Also, we’ve been able to book an excursion to see Shanghai at night.

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