Hong Kong, March 7-8, 2011

Our visit to Hong Kong was too short for all the sights and adventures we could experience.  We arrived very early in the morning and sailed through the very busy waterways of Victoria Harbor.  We docked in  Kowloon, across the harbor from Hong Kong which is an island.  A picture of the Hong Kong skyline taken from our ship.

On our first day we decided to visit the Giant Buddha on Lantau Island.  Most of you know we don’t do organized tours so we set off on our own for a combination subway and Ngong Ping Cable car.  The subway system is very modern, easy to use and clean.  This is an entry way to the station.  Note the lane control signs on the ceiling.

A picture inside the subway.  It is one long articulated train, not individual cars as in the US.  You can walk form one end to the other with no problem.   In the upper right you can see an electronic map that shows where you are and the next stop.  You also get very clear multi-language announcements

Some pictures from the train.  A major cemetery.

One of the sampan towns you hear about in Hong Kong.

You may have heard of Disney Hong Kong.  Our train passed though the transfer station to the dedicated Disney train.

We didn’t realize what they meant when mentioning a cable car.  You know how Noreen likes heights…..NOT!  It is a 25 minute, 5.7km ride that goes kind of high over land and water.  Some shots of the trip.

  Climbing up showing Hong Kong International Airport, town of Tung Chung, and the Tung Chung Bay.

Noreen smiling and “enjoying” the trip.  She made  me sit down and stop rocking the car.  We could have taken a car with a clear floor but that was a real no go.

Finally the Giant Buddha comes into view.

On arrival as we get ready to start the long walk to the Buddha. 

Information on Giant Buddha at http://www.discoverhongkong.com/eng/attractions/outlying-giant-buddha.html
The town area supporting the Buddha and the Po Lon Monastery.

Noreen getting her sense of humor back after the cable car ride.

Directions are easy to find.

It’s a long way up to the Buddha, at least 200 steps.

Finally at the top looking back.

The Buddha is an active religious site and photography was limited.  We went inside the Buddha which has two floors, a museum, and prayer alcove.  No pictures allowed inside.

The pedestal had  a number of status signifying different aspect of the religion.

Heading back I understand the pets but I wonder who brings livestock on to the cable car???

You may ask what made Noreen willing to get on the cable car to return.  Well, after our cultural trip it was time for the markets.  Our first stop was the Kowloon Night Market.
Restaurants at the start of the market.


Note the Circle K




The next day we were only in Hong Kong until early afternoon when the ship sailed.  We decided to go to the Stanley Market which was located on the other side of Hong Kong.  We first had to take one of the famous Star Ferries which have served the Hong Kong area forever.  This is a picture of one of the ferries passing our ship.  The sign on our ship reads, “Security Warning – Stay 50 Meters Away.”

We also had the more traditional Junk ship design passing by.

This is a Junk going around cleaning debris from the Harbor.

By the Central Star Ferry Station on Hong Kong.

After crossing the Harbor by ferry we had a 45 minute bus ride to get to Stanley and the market.   All the busses are modern and double decker.

Pictures from our bus trip.  Where the average worker in Hong Kong lives.


The hole in this building is based on Fung Sway.  People who live there will have health, wealth and happiness.

Our arrival at the Stanley Market.

As a discerning shopper Noreen says she can see the difference between the various markets.   It all looks like the same stuff to me.




On our trip back to the ship.  A usual Hong Kong Street.


Another cemetery.

We took the more traditional ferry but you can see there is a tunnel back to Kowloon.


Very wide modern avenues and many over passes for pedestrians.


Some Yuppie type housing on the outskirts.

The famous Hong Kong Clock Tower.

Land is very scarce and they build up not out.  I’ve never seen office and apartment buildings as tall as is normal here.

The convention center if you ever come here for a conference.

The Hong Kong skyline at night as we get ready to sail away.

Onward to Vietnam.  Hope you enjoyed this trip to Hong Kong.

Manila, The Philippines March 4-5, 2011

Click on picture for full size.

We have entered a new aspect of our trip.  The lands of markets; Night Markets, India Markets, Chinese Markets and mega shopping malls.  You’ll start to see a lot of market shots as we progress toward the Mediterranean.   And no one can top Noreen in dealing with markets.  She’s already dealt with the best from the Grand Bazar in Istanbul to road side shacks in the Caribbean.  Let the dealing begin.

Before we talk about Manila there is an aspect of the ship I’d like to show you.  We are in the South China Seas pirate area so the ship has rolled out our protection.  These are pictures of sound weapons stationed on either side of the ship.  If you watch “Whale Wars” on the Discovery channel you saw them in action.  You can see the danger area (or effective deterrent area) on the back.  These and our speed are the main defenses.

 

We docked right next to the Headquarters of the Philippian Coast Guard.  I’ll give them some Blog space since we rely on them to come to our aid in this part of the world.  Any of the Coast Guard organizations deserve our thanks.

The Philippines consists of 7,107 islands.  They need a good transportation system to get around.  Thus we have the Super Ferry.

About 40% of the crew is Filipino and the ships arrival is cause for great celebration.  The ship sets up a large tent and the families travel from all over to visit their crewmember and the ship.  This is a shot of the setup area with the welcoming tents. (For accuracy this is actually when we were getting ready to sail but I didn’t get a shot on arrival.)

Now here is where the story gets a little complicated.   Noreen is looking for some specific items and had a lead in the local Filipino Market.  When she showed the address to the welcome folks (in one o f the tents above) to get directions they got the head of local security to come over (Nothing new about that.).   It seems that the address she had was in an area that he felt was unsafe for us (or anyone it seems).  However being a gracious people he assigned two young girls to accompany us, show us the way and try to get us back alive.  We were glad they were along when as we approached the area the taxi driver asked us to lock our door (He was also a little surprised at our destination).  Anyway, the shots below are of the very local market in Manila.  We actually found the people very friendly and helpful.

Note the local security on the right side of the picture.

Rabbit for sale

One of the famous Jeepneys.  They are actually part of the public transportation system.

Another form of transportation are these three wheelers.  Some a pedal powered and some have small engines.  They get a lot of people in the cab area.

A watermelon vendor.

Of course, the open air was only the beginning. Noreen’s quest took us into the underground market.

And deeper still. (I’m shooting without a flash so as not to attract to much attention.)

Until finally we were in the produce and meat departments as we weaved through the underground.  If it hadn’t been of our guides we would still be down there.

No luck on Noreen’s quest.  So it was back to daylight.  It took us 10 minutes to walk to where we could find a cab.  I saw these roosters tied along the fence.  No idea why.

Here is a picture I put in for the electricians who may be reading this.

Where we finally got a cab.  Notice all the Jeepneys and three-wheelers.

Finally back to the ship.  Noreen with our two escorts.  They weren’t big but they were tough.

An interesting anti-corruption sign.

An interesting food shopping picture in a large supermarket.  They buy all their items individually.  All kinds of foods were set out to take as many as needed.  This was the sausage section.

I have to show you one Manila landmark but our real adventure was the market trip.

With that we bid farewell to Manila and head for Vietnam.

Madang, Papua, New Guinea

Click on picture for full view.

If you are looking for a land where the world has passed by, Papua, New Guinea is a great place to start.  It is a contrast of modern, well maintained resorts supporting a tourist trade to tribes living as they did hundreds of years ago.  When you look at the pictures don’t think of them as poor but living as their ancestors had.  The primary tourists are SCUBA divers and those seeking peace and quiet.  I spoke to an elder Australian passenger who had served as a patrol agent in this area during the 50’sand 60’s before independence in 1972.  He told of tribal warfare and a world living in the past.  It really hasn’t changed all that much and Australia still pays a large subsidy to maintain the people.

Our arrival was an event as only one or two cruise ship[s call at the port each year.  Madang is known as one of the prettiest ports in the South Pacific.  Here is a panorama of our sail-in.

As we docked in the port many locals came by heading for the town.  One method of transport were these small outriggers.

There was also some fishing going on.

Another way to get around is a more modern but still rustic power boat.

Outside of the main town the villages are still built on stilts as a protection against the tides.  I have no idea what happens in the town?

A local market where things are bartered.  It seems that they don’t use money for most of their needs.  The primary currency is bartering for the daily needs of life.  Obviously there is electricity but it runs through many villages on line poles and doesn’t “stop.”

Fishing along the coast for dinner.  No, they are not using rods and reels.  Just bamboo with string.

The people are absolutely great.  In the villages and those that came to the ship area to sell their goods.  All items ere handmade and very nice.  There were a lot of blow guns, bow and arrow sets, shields and other weapons for sale.  It was interesting to watch the ship’s security people taking all the weapons from the passengers as they re-boarded (All will be returned on the last night of the cruise).  They also had little concept of how much things were worth off the island and making change.  Everything was sort of a group discussion as to the right price and correct change.  It was really interesting.

One of the interesting things for sale was Beatle Nut. Crushed and mixed with some other ingredients it is chewed.  It provides a slight “relaxing” feeling and everyone was chewing it.  It also turns the teeth red.

There was a local band to greet us and played all day.  The guys sitting hit the ends of the long bamboo to create the drums.  No CDs for sale.

I got Noreen in one picture.  As you can see it wasn’t a sunny day in paradise.  She felt like a wet dog.

When we left many came to the shore to see us off.   It was an interesting but wet day.

Now it is off to Manila.

Cairns, AU Feb 24

Our visit to Cairns was brief and wet.  It began raining on the second day of our two day sail between Sydney and Cairns and kept raining for our entire visit.  This is our ssil-in view.  You can see the fog and low clouds.  Trust me, it is raining also.

Cairns is one of the key ports for trips to the Great Barrier Reef.  I had arranged a private SCUBA trip out to the Reef for several divers on the ship.  Actually in this group of around eight divers we had each agreed to take a port and arrange the SCUBA dive for that stop.  Obviously I had Cairns.  I setup a three tank dive (means three separate dives for you land lubbers) which took us all day.  Until I started checking I didn’t realize that it takes 60-90 minutes to get to the Reef.  So just the travel was about three hours and then five hours on various parts of the Reef.  The weather wasn’t much better out at the Reef.  Here are some pictures of what we were looking at.  You can see the rain and spray on the window.  I’m inside taking the pictures, not going out there.

Since we were going ot get wet anyway diving, we jumped in.  I’m using a film camera underwater so I will not know if any pictures I took came out until after we get back.  We had three great dives on the Reef.  Saw turtles, stingrays, giant clams and all sorts of fish.  Coral was interesting took.  Visibility was down due to a lot of suspended particles in the water stirred up by recent cyclone and a number of strong storms.  Anyway, I can check diving the Great Barrier Reef off my bucket list.  I’ve spoken of diving a number of times and we still have three more stops to dive at.  But I’ve never shown you anything.  So here is a picture at 35 feet depth in a swim-through valley on the Reef.

Another view of the land coming back from the dive.  You can see that the weather had not improved.  The picture isn’t out of focus, that is fog and rain.

I got back to the ship about 5 PM.  Noreen had thought about going out during the day but decided she didn’t need to see anything that bad in the rain.  We had dinner and left the ship about 6:30 for the famous Cairns Night Market.  It is a huge gathering of small shops, boutiques and carts offering just about anything you can think of.  Fortunately it is also located inside a large building.  Noreen wasn’t going out in the rain without buying something so we are now both proud owners of genuine Kangaroo Aussie hats.  You saw hers in the Sydney pictures and now I have one.

No great pictures of Cairns.  We didn’t go far from the ship and it was really raining…have I mentioned that already?  Those that took shore tours of the famous rain forests in the area found out why they are called rain forests.  We heard stories of downed trees blocking roads, washed out railroad tracks, and a lot of scenic fog.

But it was still Cairns, Australia and the Great Barrier Reef and that is hard to beat.  Now on to New Guinea.