How lazy can you get! People left the ship in droves to go ashore at Dalian but I decided to chill out for the day and stay put on the ship, using the relative emptiness to explore and get my blog text up to date. It turned out to be a very good choice – I had the reading room with its many sockets to myself for a while and was able to people-watch and listen in to interesting conversations. Like those I overheard in the ‘future cruises’ booth right next to me: ‘My wife and I want to do Australia – nothing less than 30 or 40 days – watcha got?’ As far as I know, the ships on this line dock at Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth and Sydney, so not much time on day excursions to ‘do’ Australia. There are a lot of people doing this leg from Beijing to Alaska, who have been on board since Singapore. One woman I spoke to has had sea-sickness since Singapore, but loves the cruise!
Also in the reading room: a table with a jigsaw laid out, free for anyone to walk by and do for a time if they wish. I pointed it out to Douglas and he found three pieces. I found none. It’s actually a lovely place to hang out if you just want to drink a coffee in peace and listen to music. It’s just off the central atrium where they regularly have string quartets and pianists playing. I try very hard not to think of the musicians playing on as the Titanic went down…. Next door to the reading room is the library, with a fair selection of books and board games. Not a bad set up.
After lunch, I decided to check out the pools. The two main ones were rather crowded round the edge, but then I found the little one right at the stern and had a dip, did my aqua-physio knee exercises and then fell asleep on a lounger till after 3. Woke up to a very hot left shoulder and leg and fairly cool elsewhere. Great sea breezes!
A woman had meanwhile taken the lounger next to me and I couldn’t help admire her lovely toenails…a deep raspberry shade with delicate white flowers on her big toenails. If only I didn’t have such misshapen nails, quite deformed really after having nailbed cauterised… Enough of that! I love being at the stern, watching the wake disappear into the distance. It’s very peaceful, and you can forget the many, many hundreds of people on board. But I guess people will discover this little gem eventually and paradise will be invaded.
As I knew we were departing Dalian at about 4.30 I started checking out the best place to take photos from; on the way I explored the top decks, the Sanctuary (Ciaran and Jonny waving from a spa pool), the conservatory, coffee by a pool, and finally, the highest point I could reach in the open air to take photos. Wonderful views all around and a good vantage point to spot wandering Ozbus people. All 3 of them.
Outside the arms of the harbour I could see lots of large and small boats at anchor in the Yellow Sea, probably waiting for us to leave so they’d have some space to dock! Such a huge ship to manoeuvre, really impressive to watch it all. Bumped into Ciaran and we had an ice-cream – just because you can! This could become a daily habit.
There’s a chart showing our journey from Beijing to thee point where we steam between the Japanese islands – before heading for open sea for the remainder of the cruise. Such a pity we can’t visit Japan; we didn’t get clearance due to the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami.
A little later I met up with Pat and Linda and we had a meal in Horizon before watching an open air film at Movies Under the Stars. We settled on some loungers before realising they were wet…so moved, and with three blankets apiece settled down for the evening. Bitterly cold! Next time I’ll do a trial run of my goose-down-filled sleeping bag! But, the film was good (The Dilemma) and we were brought warm cookies and milk. We also raised a few laughs from people walking by – three mummies in a row. Hot coffee afterwards in the warmth before bed. A great life!
Patamateria 