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Published: January 26th 2009
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CS:
Thursday 23rd January.
Having left Xingang to return to Shanghai we were told we would anchor off till Tuesday because our sister ship Rickmers Shanghai would make it to the jetty before us. It seemed a tad incredible no one knew that yesterday, and a bit frustrating for we passengers as we could have used the extra time in Beijing, but we accepted unconditionally when we signed up that cargo first; passengers last is the pecking order. Why not watch Napoleon on the DVD till late. (Seems the little corporal never did have a horse called Marengo, and do we think the English poisoned him on St Helena or not?)
We anchored overnight, a bit more northerly than before and directly off the river mouth. Pilot joined us around 4pm and we proceeded up the ever busy Yangtze River. The weather is very pleasant, 15 degrees, so we left the windows open overnight; quite a change from a few days ago. We were advised on arrival that Immigration wanted to see us. Was there anything to worry about we feared as we hurried down to the poop deck. Not at all, it was merely to do a one second ‘face
control’ and let us go again. Just as well we had the faces we did, I guess.
As the captain was hoping to catch the night tide there was to be no hotel stop-over this time! The temperature remained around 13 - 15 degrees with no wind but rain. Ashore, we found a taxi who could take us all the way into the city and we arranged with him to meet us for the return journey. He had no English but turned up right on time and had a young woman friend with him who came for the ride to practice her English. She was studying mathematics at college. On the way the driver got a call on his mobile and our fellow passenger asked out of the blue for the name of our vessel. Upon hearing it she smiled. No explanation for the mystery until we arrived at the port and discovered there was a fire on one of the other ships. Many fire engines and much smoke emanating from their hold. We learned little else. We left on the tide having provided Immigration with yet another life-affirming ‘face control’ and that’s it for China this time. However
it seemed that Rickmers Shanghai was standing off to come into the jetty as we took off, so who knows??
Calm sea, rain cleared the air a bit; we could make out the horizon. We were charted to go south-east of the island of Jizhou and were well under way to make Masan by the next morning when we suddenly stopped dead in the water. The captain explained the pilot would not be available till 14.00 (tomorrow) so we would be better to negotiate inner waters in daylight, which meant another day’s delay. Clocks have been advanced an hour so we are now on Japan time and an hour closer to Brisbane time.
We arrived and sat under anchor outside Masan. When the pilot arrives at 3pm it is a 2 hour trip into port. The area we are in is very picturesque. We saw a submarine cruising by as well as other obviously military vessels but they are outnumbered by car-ferries, cargo vessels and local civilian traffic. The morning was clear but began to smog up again. There are land features all around but it is hard to tell what is island and what is mainland.
Sea of Cars
These were loaded & replaced & again So why is this adventure so much fun? Masan is one of the reasons. What a lovely, surprising little gem of a place! We headed up river on dusk (Craig’s theory about always getting to the good stuff in the dark seems to hold true) under the bridge and into our dock. The town is strung out on the port side of the inlet and we berthed on the other. Many buildings are brightly lit in a mix of colours and we also noticed a large number of red crosses scattered about (we established in daylight that they are indeed Christian crosses attached to churches). Having docked we saw the port environs were dense with small vehicles bumper to bumper for acres. In daylight we also saw many of them being driven in bumper to bumper convoy into a vast vessel that looked like an enormous brick. As the maws of said vessel swallowed them in rapid succession more were being unloaded from car trucks - the world sure is buying Korean when it comes to little motor cars!
The night was balmy and we tried, as we always do, to pick up whatever WiFi might be on offer, usually
Masan City Hall
CS & Flowering Cabbage unsuccessfully. Not this time! Again relying on Craig’s advice I tried the rather novel concept of holding my laptop out the cabin window. Eureka! We have connection, but not otherwise. What a delight to not have to rely on time snatched in coffee shops and restaurants to communicate. What a spectacle to pass a jetty with a cargo vessel tied up and its numerous windows and portholes containing happy faces reflected in their laptop screens.
We have not been in South Korea before - few Australians have, it seems (no bankers were allowed to accept our dollars) - but we are looking forward to seeing more of it, now or later. Again virtually no one speaks English but smiles, hand signals and good will on all sides had us travelling in, around and out of Masan without stress. We laughed together when just outside the port district we saw a vehicle stop at a red light. Korea is not China in this and so many regards. (In Shanghai and Beijing we learned quickly that traffic lights are optional and largely to be ignored.) It seems that because we have a lot of cargo to take aboard here we will not be finished by the time Chinese New Year celebrations begin (and then everything else stops). We are likely to be here until 28th Jan. Tomorrow - Pusan.
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