Bye Bye China

Well sorry to everyone that has been waiting for an update, now that we are back to normal cruises finding time isn’t as easy. Sitting here waiting for Love and Marriage to start I couldn’t think of much to do so here I am writing.
Well I know I said in my last post about Japan that we would have boat drill, well sometimes things go the right way, they postponed it to the next day.
Now that we have been to Japan I want to correct what I said last time. What actually happened with the port was this. All of the passengers had to take a shuttle from the ship to immigration in the terminal, about 200 yards. I don’t know exactly what went on at immigration (we didn’t have to do it) but what friends told me was it was a long line and yes they did fingerprint all of the passengers. Once all of the guests were off the ship, they finally let the crew off. We walked right by the buses to the gate, and meet in front of the terminal. I don’t see what the big deal was in making us wait.
We didn’t have much time in port, but we did get to walk around for a bit. Japan seems nice, but I really can’t give a good answer.
The next day we were in Busan, South Korea. Now let me start by saying I wasn’t expecting much. Once boat drill was done, we headed off. The shuttle buses that we had to take us into town have got to be some of the nicest buses I have ever seen. Once downtown, a quick fill up at Starbucks (yes they are everywhere), and then it was off to find the Red City bus tour. Oh let me interject and say that when you change dollars into Korean Won, you feel rich! 1 – 1,300. Starbucks was about 8,000. Anyway back to the bus, it was a very nice hoop on hoop off type of tour. We stayed on the bus most of the time. The only stop we did make was to see the APEC conference center. It was very interesting. Busan was a very pleasant day.
After Busan we headed back to Singapore for the last time. I can’t hold it in any longer, yes I have been getting things to spoil my niece. Mary when you read this, hopefully I will get a box off to you in a couple of months. Things should still fit her. I might send you some photos to peak your curiosity. I expect videos and photos.
The next real port to talk about was Hong Kong. Before you ask, yes I did get my new camera. Hong Kong is great, it’s like China but western. The only bad part is they don’t bargain as much, they do bargain but you can’t get the prices as low on some items.
I guess that basically brings things up to date.