Yokohama – Tokyo

       We were up before 6 yesterday as we had a tour of Tokyo booked and the departure time was 7:00 am. We were off the ship shortly after docking at 7 and on our was for a half day tour of Tokyo. We were actually docked in Yokohama which is about 20 kilometres from Tokyo. We booked the City Drive and Tokyo Tower tour because it was the only effective way to get to Tokyo. The port lecturer who had been giving excellent advice suggested that a tour here was the best thing because of the distances involved and what there was to see. Basically we drove to Tokyo which on this Friday morning took about an hour and drove around the 'sites' of the city before stopping at the Tokyo tower. We hit all the highlights such as the Emperor's Palace, Parliament buildings, shopping districts, etc. However the tour was and all drive tour without any stops. It is not a very effective way to see any city although we can say we saw it.

   

Tokyo Radio Tower

 The Tokyo tower was a little more interesting. It looks looks a bit like the Eiffel Tower in Paris. It is an all steel structure with the main observation deck at about 150 meters. There were about 6 buses from the ship there as well as numerous school tours. They did not need to push us into the elevators but they came close to that. The views at the top were good but the smog was very much in evidence. We had a much more pleasant experience in Osaka. After that we basically drove back to the ship.

    After a quick lunch we were out walking the area near the port. The cruise terminal area is very well done with parks, shopping, a Chinatown, etc. all close by. We walked to the Silk Museum which displayed how silk is produced. There were some English titles. Then it was off to Chinatown (yea Chinatown in Japan) for a walk through. It was jammed with people. Finally we walked along a concourse where an old (1930's) cruise ship is docked. It carried many famous people between Yokohama and Seattle

1930's Cruise Ship

Washington. The park area was also preparing for a triathlon . We recognized that from the one that they have held in Clearwater Beach. By then we were getting tired so we headed back to the ship, stopping at the “Shopper's of Japan” to by a bottle of wine for the trip to Alaska. Finally we walked on the cruise terminal top which is a very unique structure. Judy found something that she wanted to buy but we were “15 cents” short so we made like the Amazing Race and found someone to give us what we needed. Picking the right couple to ask was the hard part.

     Sail away with Japanese drum entertainment was very well

Fire boat Display

done. There was also a fire boat on display as well. At night, we

took in the show with a guitar playing comedian. He was among the more entertaining acts that I liked. Finally before dinner, we did line dancing. When we walked into Club Fusion the song was 2 Black Cadillacs. It is a current line dancing song. I found out that the tech had downloaded the music I gave him the night before. As a result there were plenty of songs that we knew the steps. After dinner it was early to bed as we were tired from the long day. We also lost an hour sleep last night. We are starting to get back what we gained/lost? When we travelled west a few weeks ago.

Osaka On Our Own

     We originally had a tour booked for Osaka. But we cancelled it so that we could venture out on our own . We were docked right in the city about 2 blocks from a subway station and used it to visit the city. In all it is a wonderful city that is extremely easy to navigate. The people are very helpful and in one case a businessman on a bike stopped and walked us to where we could see what we wanted. A young woman gave her seat to Judy on one of the subway lines!

 

View From The Top

 
 Once you understand how the ticket machines works it was a piece of cake. They have English menus and there is a person at each machine to walk you through buying the right ticket. It really was an easy way to see many things without having to get on a tour bus. As someone said this has become a cruise of temples! It seems that every tour since we have been aboard has gone to a temple of some type. Our first destination was the Umeda building. It is a twin tower building about 40 stories high with an observation deck on top. The interesting thing is that the last 4 get to the last few stories and the observation deck, you must take an

Esculator

escalator that crosses to the other tower. The deck is above both buildings offering wonderful views of the city. To get down you take the escalator for one side to another before descending in the glass outside elevator. A very nice building. Best thing is that offered a 'senior' discount!

We then took the train to a downtown upscale shopping district called Shinsaibashi. This was not Viet Nam or Korea. We did not see more than a few vendors that had good out on the street. We eventually came to the octopus balls district. These are a piece of octopus in a ball or dough and who knows what else covered with a shredded vegetable and smothered in some type of sauce. We ordered one to try and ended up with an order of 8! We were getting hungry by then so no worries. Only problem was that it is an 'acquired

Octupus Balls

taste' which neither of us had. I finished them but that is enough of what the locals “octopus balls'! After that we headed to our next stop on the tour.

     The ship was docked next to a world class aquarium. It was on our list! They did offer a 'senior discount'! What a great country. It was well presented. The theme was the Pacific Ring of Fire and all the exhibits came from around the Pacific Ocean. They had displays from North and South America, Antarctica, New Zealand, Japan, etc. You start at the top floor and wander down the ramps. The centre section is a massive tank filled with all types of fish! It was probably over a kilometre in length by the time we got to the bottom. The

Jellyfish

distance is marked on the floor.

Our last stop was the massive ferris wheel next to the ship. We have been to the Eye in London but this looked taller although the pods were smaller. It also afforded very nice views of the city. As we made our way around it stopped, started, stopped again, etc. Now I am not the best in a high free swinging basket but this thing is suppose to be continually moving. Turns out as we came to the bottom, we noticed a may working on the main drive area. Just what I needed. At night the wheel is lit up for a very nice photo opportunity. Since we did not leave until nearly 8 pm, we had some very nice views of it from our balcony.

      We were back on the ship for the official welcoming ceremony. After the speeches they had a man and a woman playing what looked like a Japanese banjo. We needed to understand the culture a little better because all the music sounded the same and went of forever and ever. Before dinner they had a line dance favourites hour where they played ship line dances. However, brought my thumb drive with songs on it so we were able to do some other dances. There were only a few people there and other people knew some different dances so it was at least an attempt to keep up our skills. I know we are getting rusty. Because of the radio communication blackout we were only able to connect today.

Busan Walk Around

       Last night was a formal night and the Captain's welcome aboard party. We went to an early production show that we had not seen before and then we went to the champagne waterfall which they now do on the Captain's welcome aboard party as opposed to the final night. I think it is because

A Stop In A Park

they can sell more photos this way. We must have been in the right place because the waiter kept coming by and filling our glasses!

Today we had a full visit to Busan South Korea. Having been here less than a week ago we decided to just go into the city by shuttle and walk around. Our first stop was Yongdusan Park which is just above the main shopping area. This time the bus stopped and we did now have to use the escalator. The day was nice and warm with sunny skies for most of the day so the photos are better. Buddha's birthday was last weekend and the park was decorated with large paper figures. Always nice to get some of the local flavour.

 

Finally A Hat

     As we walked around the streets we found many sock vendors and Judy decided to buy some Nike sport socks at about $2 a pair. In Tamps they are at least $4 on sale. We then walked though the 'cheap' market stall area. Judy found a collapsible straw hat that she liked. She had been looking for one for a few ports now. Of course she found one but the wanted $15 for it. ( Remember the “same” hat for $68 at the friendship store in Dahlain!) I offered them $10 but they shook their head. They let us walk away. Judy really liked the hat so we went back. The price was now $18. We walked away again. There are plenty of vendor stalls in the area. It runs for alley way after alley way. Do you think that we could find a stinking hat vendor. We finally stumbled (I said I knew it was there!) and 3 or 4 hat sellers all in the same location. Judy got the hat for $14!

Save Me!

   

Mussels Anyone

 We made our way back to the Lotte Department store and went to the top

for better views of the city. The views were much better because of the day. We rode the escalator all the way to the bottom level where we again found the wine store. By this time we were getting hungry so we stopped and bought a large steamed pork and vegetable filled dumpling. We ordered the hot and it was! Later we did stop and get a soft serve – 2 for about $1 at MacDonald. I did a quick tour of the fish market just to take some pictures. We finally returned to the ship. We had a very nice day in Busan.  Happy Birthday to Pauline!

     We are headed to Japan for the next 2 ports before heading across the Pacific. Japanese authorities do not allow radio communications so the internet will be down for periods of time as we sail in and out of their territory. Tomorrow is a sea day before Osaka. We will doing our own thing as we will be right in town and have a good idea of how to navigate the subway system.

Ashore in Dalian

Along Russian Street

            After the over night sail from Tianjin, we arrived early this morning in Dalian. The effects of the climb to the top of the Great Wall seems to be lingering more than I expected! Dalian is the third largest port in China and an area that has seen many different cultures occupy the region. There is a Japanese influence from an occupation and a very strong past Russian Influence. A port shuttle was provided to the Friendship store (where else?) located in the main square of the city. The city itself was redesigned by the Russians. It has a series of large hexagonal squares with wide avenues connecting them. The city has a very nice modern feel to it. It was a very nice place to walk around. It did have its share of street venders but nothing like Shanghai or Viet Nam. We had 2 basic objectives for the day and managed to finish one of them.

Farmer's Market

      Our first destination was Russia Street. It is so named because all the buildings were built during the Russian occupation. It looked like what you would see in St Petersburg. Most of the buildings have been refurbished and are very neat looking. They are now occupied by upscale businesses. Along the street were many vendors all selling the same items. We could not figure out why there were so many binoculars for sale. They were everywhere. As we wandered, we found the farmer's market. It was your typical market selling fruits vegetables, meats and bakery products in a very run down area just off Russia Street. They knew that we were not going to buy anything so it was nice just to walk through without people constantly trying to get your attention. We ended up buying some very tasty almond cookies.

Upscale Shopping

      We then headed to the upscale pedestrian area to see what was in there. More street vendors but not packed and overflowing. We were not looking for anything special so we just did the wander thing on our way to the second planned location. First we did find Friendship Square, one of those places that reminds you of Zhongshan Square, the largest in the city. We wanted to get to People's Square because they have Chinese Kite flying at that park. We went as far as the Princess map outlines but the destination was beyond the map. We even asked some students at an English Language School to help us out but not having a map did not help. Later we stopped at a Tourist Information Booth (English spoken here) but they said that they only have maps in Chinese. Go figure on that one! So we wandered back to Victory Square where we found a huge shopping complex associated with a department store. We started at the top and came across Tom's World, a full floor amusement arcade. It was jammed with kids!

      As we made our way back down we passed the camera section. I can now admit that I lost my

Tom"s World

camera case with my extra cards and battery somewhere in Shanghai! Am I glad I can download the photos we take every night. Anyway I wanted to get a case for convenience and we found one. The Chinese girl did not speak English but if you ask the price, they use a calculator and show you the numbers. I think it was cheaper and of better quality than the one I had from Blacks. I could not find a 'Made in China” tag on it. Since we had some money left over, I now have a new bag.

       From there it was a stop at a KFC for a soft serve (about $0.60 each) before heading back to the Friendship store. We decided to have a look inside. Many people from the ship were in that store as it was the main drop

Victory Square

point for the tours – the so called shopping free time. They had plenty of staff but I did not see one Chinese shopper there. The prices were outrageous! Judy tried on a basic collapsible sun hat. They wanted nearly $70.00 for it. No way was not exactly what Judy said! We were back at the ship in time for afternoon tea. We are currently in the Yellow Sea headed back to Busan tomorrow where we will simple take the shuttle in walk around and pick up some more wine!