Asia trip part 2 - Sea days and Shanghai

Note: This post is long! Also, all pictures and videos embiggen nicely. 

This was the longest vacation I've taken as an adult. But actually I don't think it ended up being the most expensive. That title goes to our Mediterranean trip of 2008, which was 4 days shorter than this trip. The first two days after getting on the boat were "at sea" days which means you are trapped on the boat. You can keep yourself busy or not, but it seemed like Serge and I were always up to something.

And that something was usually alcoholic. The ship was happy to oblige and we discovered tricks to save money on the booze intake. Actually, buying a bottle of hard alcohol from room service cost LESS (even with tip) than what we can pay where we live. So that was nice.

The first formal night was fun. By the time we got to the third formal night, we were a little tired of the dress up. But since the average age of passenger seemed to be about 70, pretty much everyone participated in formal attire wearing. Serge, the little rebel, refused to wear a tie.

The menu is a little more formal too and they haul out the china to serve the meals on. I actually didn't notice that until reviewing photos. Above was a yummy seafood cocktail. 

In the mornings of the sea days, Serge and I went to the great gym on board. I worked out on the machines and Serge did mostly cardio. I need to get him a treadmill so we can work out together at home. Anyway, I had to take a before shot, as in before I gain ten pounds with all this awesome food.

We played many games of Uno together. That game is so mean and we just love to be meanies. Yes, we are drinking in the daytime. What? We were trapped on the boat, it's what we do.

Every night at happy hour, we took advantage of the buy one, get the second one for a dollar deal. And they served little hors d'oeuvres that varied each evening. Seemed like all we did was eat and drink on this cruise.

After dinner each night we hung out in the Ocean bar where a wonderful jazz trio played. There were a lot of people ballroom dancing on the dance floor. We decided we should take lessons so we could partake on the next cruise. We do like Dancing with the Stars and it would be a fun couply activity.

The sea got more and more choppy as the day wore on. After dinner we noticed these all over the place. Barf bags just magically appeared everywhere. This was when we realized we had forgotten to bring the Gravol (Dramamine) even though we have a ton of it! Oh well, we didn't get sick anyway. We were too excited about arriving to our first port the following day.

Shanghai! And the cruise ship docks right in the heart of the city. When we woke up and looked out our porthole, that is the view we had. It looked like we had landed on a different planet. That pink tower is the TV tower.

We ran up to the top of the ship to see the sunrise and ogle the immense city all around us. Quite the change from gray and drizzly ocean for the last two days. We were excited to get going and we had an all day tour booked called something like The Best of Shanghai.

First stop, Shanghai Museum of Art. They gave us an hour to do it. We finished in about 25 minutes. The Chinese' idea of a museum of art and our sense of what it is are very different. There were a lot of drawings but they all seemed to be in the same exact style - Chinese. In fact I kept saying that in China, it looks like it was all designed and decorated by the same person. Anyway, there were no paintings as you would expect in an ART museum, but there were a lot of coins and sculpture exhibits.

They seemed just as nationalistic as we are. The Chinese flag flew everywhere. I like the simplicity of it. On our tours, all the guides seemed to do was gush about their culture and customs and how advanced they have become. Indeed, their economy will surpass the US's in 2016. You could see that in the bazillion skyscrapers being built everywhere.

Then we went on to the Jade Budhha Temple where we were not actually allowed to take a picture of the Jade Buddha. Luckily a little search with Google and you can see it. Here I'll go get it.

It wasn't all that impressive and you couldn't get very close to it. Asia was rife with the Buddha, but frankly after a while we got pretty bored of it. I suppose the same could be said of the ubiquitous crosses on churchtops throughout our land.

Then it was lunchtime, included on the tour. We had a bunch of plates and often did not know what we were eating. There was one meat none of us could figure out. Probably best not to know. One lady had a really hard time getting iced tea. They were so confused, especially when she wanted sugar.

I was able to get a shot of our ship from outside the restaurant. The bigger cruise ships can't get into Shanghai and we only had 4 feet of clearance ourselves to go under a bridge spanning the river. But I like the smaller ships. You get to see more of the same people that way and it just seems less chaotic. Our ship wasn't full which made breakfast time less crowded. That was nice. Anyway.

We made a quick stop at the tallest building in Shanghai going up. It was odd since I had checked out a library book on Shanghai from 2009. There were so many things (like subway lines) that didn't exist in 2009. The pictures of the skyline were WAY different. This tower is going to be 121 stories. It was jaw-dropping.

Then we went to a famous garden that I have forgotten the name of. Here, I'll go see if I can find it..ah yes, the Yu Garden. These were the only flowers there. Again, their idea of a garden and our idea of a garden is totally different. Their garden is all about rocks and water and little temple things.

See what I mean about the same designer? They all resemble each other.

After the garden our guide gave us some free time to peruse the open air market next door. So many foods I didn't recognize. It smelled like Chinatown in your city. The vendors of the knick knacks were extremely aggressive and always started with RIDICULOUS prices. Like $35 for a t-shirt. Um, they are selling them on the boat for $5. Anyway, as I've said, I would rather not spend money if I have to haggle about it.

Our final stop was on the Bund, a famous stretch of street where we finally got a picture of us together in front of the skyline.

Even though the tour was all day, we got back on the ship, had our drinks and dinner and then headed back out. We went to the top of the Hyatt and got this awesome night shot. OMG the Hyatt was hilarious, it cost $17 bucks to go up to the rooftop bar, but that included one drink. So we ordered a vodka on the rocks. When the bartender handed us two highball glasses of ice, I repeated my order. He said, yes, there is vodka in there. The ice did taste vodka-y but none of it actually made it to the bottom of the glass. LOL, cheapskates.

They had this very weird tramride thing to take you under the river to the other side. We wanted to go walk around the other side in the modern part of the city.  Anyway, it was a kind of show at the same time, but really cheesy. Here watch a little bit of it. Serge was quite into it. He took like 10 videos inside on the way AND on the way back. 

Then we walked around the modern part of the city. Lots of bright lights. Incidentally, we stayed up kinda late that night. After about 12 midnight the authorities shut almost all of the lights off. I'm sure it's to save money. But it looked eerie. The next day we stayed in Shanghai some more.

I had a couple of walking tours in my tourbook so we walked over to the nearest metro station, about 20 minutes from the ship and tried to figure it out. The 50 cent fare was nice and the subway stations were clean and modern. 

We loved walking around taking in the sights, smells and sounds of everything. I loved all the English errors or odd translations. That part reminded me of home. I always chuckle when we go to our favorite Vietnamese place here in Montreal and see the Appetizer section of the English menu titled "Entrances" since the word in French for entrance and appetizer is the same.

It was warm enough to sit outside for lunch. We found a little thai place that we heard a lady say, "Hey this is that place I was telling you about, great food." So we sat down and had lunch. I ordered something that was listed as spicy on the menu. I am from Socal, I can eat jalapenos by the handful, but my meal was the spiciest thing I've ever eaten. Every bite caused sweat to break out on my face and forehead. (It wasn't too pleasant the next day coming out either.) TMI? You must be new here.

We walked for hours and hours. You can see that we were lucky the first day with the fairly clear air. Not so the second day. Super murky. We love exploring cities on foot, it's the only way to really get the feel of a place.

One thing was treacherous though - crossing streets. If you observe, none of the vehicles respect the color of the traffic light. It only appeared to us that the buses respected the lights, otherwise it was a freeforall. So crossing the street while crossing our fingers is what we did most of the time. The look on Serge's face at the very end of the video is so funny because we almost got hit by a scooter.

Then we had to be back on the boat for departure. We made a point to get there in time for happy hour, of course. Hope you enjoyed this long post. Next up, more sea days and Beijing. Stay tuned.

Asia trip of a lifetime Part 1- Hong Kong

So so sorry peeps for my long and unintended absence. It's been a difficult couple of months then followed by the most fabulous vacation of life. I can't believe it's over and all week I've been fighting the post-vacation blues. We got back one week ago. I thought a bit of therapy was in order so I've decided to blog the trip! All pictures and videos can embiggen nicely. Now if you are friends with me and Serge on FB, then you will likely find not much new. There will be more descriptions however, but the photos, while maybe not the exact ones posted on FB, will certainly ring a bell. The first thing we did was get a hotel room near the airport so we wouldn't have to stress getting to the airport at rush hour.

Our journey door to door lasted about 25 hours. We had a 16 hour flight from Chicago to Hong Kong. There was no personal entertainment system and I knew this so watched This is 40 on my ipad and the James Bond flick on the overhead monitor. Also, no more free drinks on overseas flights on United. At least not in economy. So, heh heh heh, I got an idea. we picked up some duty free booze at the airport in Montreal since there the boutique is after you pass US customs in the airport. If we had bought it in Chicago, they would have met us at the plane door making the operation more complicated (though doable as that is what we did on the way home). Anyway, our beverage of choice lately, vodka martinis, look just like water. So we filled up a couple bottles of water with our drinky drinks. Had that on the plane with a couple of melatonins and poof, be both slept for 7 hours. I have never ever slept on a plane before, so that was really nice.

We arrived at the super modern airport around six in the evening. Even though we were exhausted, we were so excited to be back after twenty years. This is where Serge and I met two decades ago, and we hadn't been back since. We hopped on the special airport express train, about $12 apiece. I had already procured some Hong Kong dollars before leaving. I see so many Americans travel and spend their US dollars, but in general the merchants don't give a very good exchange rate. Much smarter to shop around and watch exchange rates and pounce when the time is right.

When we got off the airport train, there was a little shuttle bus to our hotel waiting. What luck! We were checked in in no time and checking our email and FB with the free wifi. So began our saga of REALLY SMALL hotel rooms. Honestly, the largest room we had the entire trip was on the cruiseship.

Then we headed out to explore and try to see if we could remember places we had been. Here is a jetlagged picture of me. We marveled at how many people there were everywhere. We found our old stomping grounds, Lan Kwai Fong, which is where all the expats used to, and from the looks of it, still do hang out. It was a crazy night since it was Friday. Here have a look.

The next day we got up late, like 10am and decided to have the hotel western breakfast, we just weren't ready for the local fare quite yet. Check out this breakfast menu:

 

Abalone soup and ham macaroni? Thanks, I'll pass. Although abalone soup sounds really good, just not in the morning. Our hotel had some odd quirks. There was a sign in our hotel room announcing, "We engross in your needs," followed by a list of hotel services offered. Also, there were many missing elevator floors, no 4, 13, 14, 18, 24, 34. I guess 4 is a bad number there? Also, there was a marvelous rooftop pool but it was only open two hours per day: 10am-11am and 5pm-6pm. Lame. Still we went up to have a look at the city.

Then we were off on our next adventure, to try to find the apartment building where Serge used to live when he was there. It used to be way outside of the city, but now the city has expanded in every direction, especially up, so it didn't seem so remote.

First metro, which were super clean and new looking. Then a commuter train out to Tai Po Market. Serge used to live in Tai Po, but we couldn't find his building. We looked and looked and looked. Then we walked around the market.

There was every fruit, vegetable, meat, poultry and fish product you could imagine. Most of the seafood was alive, so I suppose quite fresh. Serge said back when he lived there, they would decapitate the chicken in front of you, thus ensuring freshness. Glad I didn't have to see that.

Then we came back and tripped around the Kowloon side of town. There were huge Chinese banyan trees lining the hoity toity street where all the designer shops were. Being a man of limited means, I never go into such shops. But even if I were uber-rich I don't think I would. Travel means so much more to me than things.

Typical daytime street scene. Constant honking.

Typical food market lining a pedestrian alley. I had no idea what half of the things being sold were.

Typical night time street scene. Still the constant honking. We went to the Temple street night market and perused all the stalls. I hate the haggling scene so I didn't buy anything. Serge picked something up for his mother. Then we found this crowded place with lots of happy people eating, so we got a table and ordered beer and a plate of noodles for five bucks apiece.

Our first local food since at lunch I was bad and had a sausage mcmuffin with egg, since that is on the menu all day in Hong Kong. It was one of the things I loved about living there.

Then, due to a FB friend's suggestion, we made our way over to the Ritz Carlton hotel. Now when I was there 20 years ago, it was to help open the Ritz Carlton hotel, but 14 years later, they demolished the hotel to put up a condo high-rise. The Ritz is now at the top of the tallest building in Hong Kong. Here I am on the 108th floor. It was really high!

The next day, we took the peak tram up to the top and took in the hazy view. If you follow my left hand up to the really hazy building on the other side of the harbor, that building is the Ritz-Carlton building. Just barely visible.

Then in the evening after some difficulty communicating, we met up with my brother's girlfriend and her mother. What a coincidence that we both booked cruises out of Hong Kong that departed on the same day? Our boat was heading north, and theirs was heading south. Anyway, they were pretty jetlagged but managed to meet us for some dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe.

We escorted them back to the ferry and then got this great night shot as we made our way back to our hotel. Last night in Hong Kong.

The next day was ship time. It was our first time sailing with Holland America. And now after having talked with others who sail Princess or Celebrity, I have come to understand that they ALL offer the same product, it's just presented in slightly different ways. Holland America seemed classier, I liked the sophisticated music for example, but the food, shows and casino and shops are identical to the other cruise lines.

Our room looked snazzy. Normally, we ask the steward to put the beds together but we liked the layout better like this, so left them apart.

We had our first of many, many glasses of champagne. We were all about martinis and champagne this trip. We had the muster drill - practice what to do in case of an emergency. And then sailed out of Hong Kong harbor.

It was a little bittersweet since we had wanted to revisit the place where we met. Unfortunately the building was under construction. So no revisiting that fateful night. Oh well, hard to be sad when you are embarking on a 2 week cruise! Here's a video Serge took as we headed out.

Then dinner in the main dining room. We got there first and took the window waiting to see who our tablemates would be. We had one of many filet mignon dinners that night. Oh and I got my Caesar salad with anchovies too. Yum. Stay tuned for the next segment on sea days and Shanghai.