Next instalment “The Cruise – part 1″ 5th – 19th April 2007 by Pat Needham

I’ll do my best to edit this down to a couple of articles.  We’ve just boarded the Holland American ship Statendam, just under 1200 passengers cared for by 500 crew.  We did not realise, but Holland America caters to the older people in the community, some on board with walking frames, mobility scooters.  Quite a few just stayed on board and enjoyed the comforts of the ship.

At sea, just relaxed, met our fellow diners this evening, which were quite a mix of young and old.

Early arrival in Nagasaki and then we were off on our first shore excursion to the Atomic Bomb Museum.

Another early arrival at Pusan, now called Busan, South Korea.  Ron went on a Panoramic Drive and a Korean concert which he was sorry I missed.  I had elected to go on a full day’s tour to Gyeongju – “A Museum without Walls”.  It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Because of the traffic chaos the buses on this tour were all late back to the ship and sailing was delayed as a result.  Just as well we were on an excursion organized by Holland America as they waited, anyone on a private tour would have missed the boat!  There is a priest from San Antonia on board so daily Mass.  Father Emilio travels the world on various cruise ships, not bad if you can get it!  Beats a parish job.

After two full days on the go, another day at sea was restful. We speak to people at lunch or sitting on the Lido deck where many congregate around the pool, Ron meets more having a drink at the bar in the late afternoon.  We go up about an hour before our 8.30pm sitting for dinner and have a drink in the Ocean Bar where a string quartet play and they are excellent.  Breakfast and lunch are served continuously in the Lido restaurant for several hours, b’fast just becomes lunch.  It is buffet, with a wide selection.  Ron reckons the food was better on P&O, but no complaints.  You could also have meals in your stateroom from much the same menus, but again we did not bother.  It was nicer to go up and mix.

Then we docked in Dalian, our first chinese port.  The next day we had an early arrival in Xingang, the port for Beijing.  Same performance with the chinese officials coming on board and being very slow, but we did not have to go through immigration again and eventually we boarded the buses to take us the 3 hrs to Beijing.  The comfort stop enroute introduced the ladies to the eastern toilets which have the bowl sunk into the floor and you have to crouch over; the presenter who gave talks on the various ports of call had warned us to take toilet paper as there is none supplied in most rest rooms.  Afterwards we were taken to the Great Wall, which we proceeded to climb up to.  The approach was very steep with irregular steps, some quite shallow and then some very deep and one had to stretch to step up. However, I did feel I had achieved something special. The countryside was bleak and low cloud hung around so conditions for photography was poor.  The weather was cool and although we had been warned to dress warmly for the Great Wall, it was not necessary as the exertion warmed you.  More next time…..

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