'04 Radisson Grand Voyage-Segment 4

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What has four legs, weighs 1054 kg., and had the worst possible odds? Yes it was my horse “Divine Feeling” and the winner of the fourth race at the Happy Valley Race Course in Hong Kong. My first time at a horse race and I won $431.50 Hong Kong dollars for a $10 bet on a long shot. We had dinner and viewed most of the race from the post position, up close and personal. Very exciting! We had done most of the tourist attractions on our last visit, so we spent most of our time with a Hong Kong tailor, getting a Chinese haircut, sipping high tea at the famed Peninsula Hotel lobby, and watching the 8PM laser light show on all the high rise buildings across the river on Hong Kong Island. We couldn’t believe the build up since our last visit in 1991.

Since Hong Kong it’s been really busy. Taiwan and China were a whirlwind. We were glad to get out of Taiwan before the attempted assassination and the election. Our tour guide was glad to hear that we would be at sea on Election Day; he must have thought there would be some sort of trouble.

I don’t know what we expected of Communist China, maybe Mao uniformed bicyclists? That’s definitely in the past. The 21st century is all new skyscrapers and condos with an emphasis on the futuristic architecture. Shanghai was the most startling; the new city across the river had been built up in the last ten years. The corner stone TV Tower looks like a space ship about ready to blast off. Beijing left us with a memorable time walking through the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square and the massive Great Wall. We stayed overnight there in a five star hotel and enjoyed an evening at the exclusive China Club. China was truly one of the highlights of our trip, but Japan was right up there as well.

We were really lucky to experience the peak of the cherry blossom season all over Japan. We know from trying to see Washington DC’s that this is not that easy to time so perfectly.

We visited Hiroshima, Kobe, Kyoto, and Tokyo. Our favorite was Kyoto. After what we thought was one too many temples, we were thrilled once again by a temple housing 1001 unique full size gold Buddha’s. They stood one hundred to a row, ten rows deep with the main nine foot Buddha in the middle and twenty-eight guard deities down front. These were all sculpted in the 13th century by seventy different artists out of wood and covered with gold flecks. A Shogun castle, golden pavilion, sake factory, the Imperial Palace, and an exciting ride on the bullet train all rounded out our Japan experience.

Because our fourth segment had only three sea days, our photo album shows a fun night in the themed restaurant, Latitudes, “Sands of the Sahara” (that’s Linda with a snake around her neck this time). Also a very talented ventriloquist, Mark Merchant, who made us laugh so hard, our faces hurt. There’s also one of me with our ship’s security officers gaining permission to go ashore. They are from a tribe in Nepal called Gurkha and were ferocious fighters along side the Brits in WWII.

Can’t believe the fifth and final segment is about to start with only sixteen days remaining in the “Walker’s Big Adventure”…

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