Beijing part 1

After a buffet breakfast at the hotel we boarded the buses. First stop was Tiananmen Square; the largest city gathering spot in the world. It really is huge; they say that it will hold a million people - probably true as there were several thousand there while we were and it almost seemed empty. Our tour buses parked right across the street from the square - the only ones allowed to do that; we had seen other tour groups walking in from blocks away. The second photo here of the guards marching by gives you an idea of the smog - it was right in front of the monument which is almost hidden in the smog. We had about an hour to walk around and take pictures and then we headed for the Forbidden City.

The Forbidden City was built in the last dynasties, the Ming and Qing dynasties. It covers about 250 acres and includes pavilions, halls, courtyards, gardens, and gates. I could have spent a couple days here, but we did have a fair amount of time. Leonard (our guide) would stop and give us a short briefing on a building or other site and then 15 or 20 minutes free… then on to the next special area. It worked well; everyone seemed satisfied except one. He took off on his own and said he would meet us at the end. Well, he never showed up and after the group looking for him our guide reported him as missing and we went on to lunch. (this is the man that’s doing the big CruiseCritic post on this cruise). It had a good ending… but expensive for him as he said he had to pay $100 for a taxi to the restaurant.
(will continue soon!)

Shanghai to Beijing

Shanghai
Wow what city. We were well into the port area this morning at 5:30 when we woke up. Our room service guy said we had been in the port for several hours. It runs upriver for many miles. The buildings were magnificent; beautiful skyscrapers with wonderful designs. We docked directly across from the building with the two red globe-shaped areas. Also nearby was the port building that had two huge glass world globes; one at each end. I’d love to be able to see the inside of some of these buildings but this trip we won’t see any more of the city except on our bus ride to the airport.

We cleared immigration on the ship in about 10 minutes, but we were the last group through. The earlier tours had a considerable wait in line until the Chinese officials actually started processing people. After that we went up and had a buffet breakfast and then killed a couple hours on the balcony watching all the boats and ships go by in the river. Then it was time to meet for the tour.

There are only 81 people on the tour and we have 3 coaches so it won’t be crowded. The ride to the airport was about an hour and then the guides handed out boarding passes and passports and we progressed through security to the gate. All very quick! The airport is very nice and there were a number of shops on the concourse. [written at the airport at the start of the trip]
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[written after the tour]
The flight to Beijing was only an hour and 30 minutes and we proceeded through the airport quite quickly and were loaded onto three buses to take us to the Great Wall Sheraton - 5 star hotel.

Good heavens - the smog; so bad you couldn’t see ¼ mile. We did get to see some of the city. With a population of 20 million it is completely packed with tall apartment buildings. The roads are jammed with cars (our driver, Tom was unbelievable throughout the whole trip). All of the Chinese guides have ‘working names’; our guide was Leonard. He, too, was excellent. He was an English major so we had no problems understanding him and each day he did Chinese lessons for us to help us speak a couple words. The ride to the hotel took a little over an hour and then by the time we got checked in and to our rooms it was time for dinner… then I was too pooped to do anything except go to bed.
Stay tuned….

We are back from the Great Wall

We are back from the Great Wall. Fantastic trip. I will be writing and organizing pictures and posting very soon.

At Sea

This was a foggy and very cool sea day. We attended the last presentation by John Maxtone Graham. He and his wife, Mary, did a series of short plays. The subtitle was "Everything you have always wanted to know about passengers but were too polite to inquire." It is very funny and a great ending for his series of lectures. They get off in Hong Kong so we won't see them any more after today.

Tomorrow is Shanghai - We leave for our Overland tour to Beijing for the Great Wall. I'll have my computer with me, but I'm not sure how much I will be able to post. We will be back to the ship in Hong Kong, 4 days later.

Incheon, Korea

Sunday morning we arrived in Incheon. The approach to the pier was quite interesting as it is a very sheltered harbor controlled by a flood gate (lock). There was a tug at the stern to help keep it centered in the lock, but it was very windy and the Captain had to use the forward thruster all the time to keep us from hitting the side bumpers… We did hit them a few times so there is probably some paint missing from the side of the ship - there were marks on the bumpers. It was quite interesting to watch - we went in and out quite a bit alternating hot coffee and warm cabin with the balcony.

was quite cold but it was supposed to get up to about 50 so we waited until noon to head out. It seemed most people were heading to Seoul either by tour or on their own for shopping. How much shopping can people really do??? I guess not being a shopaholic saves me a good deal of money.

When we went ashore we realized that since it was Sunday most everything near the pier was closed but we found our way to the Sinpo local market and wandered through just looking and taking pictures. I have to admit the prices had me a bit baffled… the exchange rate is about $1.00 = W1,300. So the rack of jeans with the sign W5000 cost only $4 ??? Now, these weren’t Levi’s, but still a pair of jeans for four dollars is awfully cheap. I mostly enjoy the stalls with the food - took many shots of those.

Then it was back to the ship to get out of the cold - I think the 50 degrees was a wish. We left port about 8:00 and after that I crawled into bed to read.
We will have one sea day and then Shanghai where we leave for our overland trip to the Beijing and the Great Wall.