February 28th Hong Kong, March 1st

Wednesday, 28th February. Alan woke me up at 5.40am to go out onto the balcony as we approached Hong Kong. Fortunately, we were on the starboard side to see it all but as it was still dark all we could see were lights on the island. Within ten minutes we could see the silhouette of hills as dawn began to break. It wasn’t long before we were sailing close to the shore with Lamma Island on our port side. We recognised Repulse Bay, where, in 1981, I had my first paddle in the Pacific Ocean. Then high on the next mountain we spotted the cable car lift that took us up to Ocean Park; it was so exciting to be able to remember these places. The ship sailed around the point and we skirted Aberdeen. This photo of first sight has been lightened because it was only 6.15am. We could see huge sky scrapers that had been built where Kai Tak airport once was, but the whole area had been developed to its limit. The ship was too large to dock on Hong Kong Island and we sailed slowly into Qwai Chung container terminal on Kowloon Peninsula where we moored at 7.00am. We could just see Hong Kong Central from the ship but it was hidden in cloud. We didn’t rush because our day began at 10.30am when we met our group of about 70 ‘Queen’s Grill World Cruisers’ who were on the specially arranged Chinese New Year lunch with us. We enjoyed the panoramic drive, which took us through the tunnel and under Victoria Harbour across to Hong Kong Island. From there we drove across the island to Aberdeen and arrived at The Aberdeen Marina Club, where lifelong membership is approx £200,000 with a monthly fee of £250 - and members have to be sponsored. We were indeed privileged to be there, it was amazing! Above is the entrance and the terrace area. After being greeted at the entrance to the ballroom, where lunch was to be served, and given a fortune cookie by the gentleman below, we were escorted to our table for the celebration lunch. (Alan was wheeled in ahead of us.) After we were seated, accompanied by Chinese drummers, the lion entered by dancing around the room and onto the stage. I had positioned myself so that we sat close enough to get good photos and video the dancers. Four musicians played throughout the meal. The tables seated ten, but during lunch we were not expected to remain in our seats for the whole seven courses because around the room were tables with artists at work. We were invited to enjoy having our fortunes told, names written in Chinese calligraphy, personalised Chinese knots tied, and silhouettes artistically cut in minutes at any time that suited us. Here is Alan sitting for his silhouette. The fortune teller prophesied that Alan will outlive me - so Andrew and Mark had better toss a coin for possession! This was the luncheon menu; Steamed shrimp dumplings, steamed pork dumplings with crab roe, deep fried vegetable taro dumplings and steamed vegetarian dumplings; Braised pumpkin soup with assorted sea food; Stir fried dice beef with garlic and spring onions; Deep fried garoupa with sweet and sour sauce (the head is a delicacy, which was dressed and served with the tail fin for all to try – (Peter, a typical colonial type with Jimmy Edwards style moustache, who had lived in India - ate it all!) Poached seasonal vegetables in superior broth; Fried rice Yeung Chow style; Chilled honeydew melon with saog in coconut milk. Plenty of wine and green tea accompanied each course. It was a beautiful afternoon and we ventured out onto the terrace where the view was magnificent. We overlooked the yacht club marina, pools and boats, but also the Jumbo floating restaurant that Alan and I had been taken out to during our last visit when it was moored off shore and very popular venue. It was in one of the early James Bond movies too, but in recent years had to be brought in to the harbour for preservation. (Here I am with Jumbo in rear and I am wearing my red Chinese knot.) The afternoon seemed to wiz by and we had to leave at 3.15pm for our drive back to the ship. Some chose to be dropped off in Kowloon to shop but Alan and I thought better of racing around for the last couple of hours. We sailed out late because the Commodore had been given special dispensation, which allowed him to sail the QM2 through Victoria Harbour between Hong Kong Central and Kowloon, but it had to be at high water because there was only two metres of sea beneath the ship. It was a wonderful opportunity because at 8.00pm the city sprang to life, apparently, every evening at this time, for fifteen minutes the ‘Symphony of Light and Music’ takes place. All the lights on the tall business towers are synchronised to dance with the loud music played. (I have recorded it.) It was an amazing sight to see as we sailed parallel to the illuminated city that was also celebrating the eleventh day of the New Year! This year is the ‘Year of the Pig’ but also a special year because it happens to be the sixtieth anniversary when the year of the pig is said to be doubly lucky. The Chinese New Year starts on February 18th and lasts 15 days, but we were told that this day (Feb. 28th to us) was January 11th to the Chinese. We saw the Excelsior Hotel where we had stayed previously, and it stood proudly above the ‘noon day gun’, which is still fired. However, a new tunnel beneath the harbour has been built in the typhoon shelter area that was in front of the hotel, so now it is surrounded by other buildings, but it was still a majestic sight to see. The QM2 did a circuit of Hong Kong Island before heading in a southerly direction toward our next port of call, Singapore. This had been a really wonderful day to remember.
Thursday, 1st March. Alan was at his lecture while I had a lie in before sorting out all the paraphernalia from the previous day. By lunch time we were still in the China Sea sailing at 26 knots in temperatures around 25 degrees cent. with a gentle south easterly sea breeze. The sea was shallow in this area, only 2000 feet beneath the ship. We didn’t do much during the afternoon, except I wrote up this blog! Tonight is a formal evening and the show is ‘The Beatlemaniacs’; more talent embarked at HK. By midnight tonight we will be 55 n. miles off Da Nang, Vietnam.

February 24th, 25th, 26th, 27th.

Saturday, 24th February. Alan was out on the balcony at 3.00am this morning watching the tropical electric storm. I had heard resounding bangs as if the steel of the hull was being hit by large unknown objects and wondered what it was, but didn’t stir too much. When I saw Alan coming back inside and heard about the magnificent sight he had seen I wished I had looked out. He said that bursts of blue sheet lightening had lit up everything as far as he could see, then intermittently there had been loud explosions in the sky that burst into golden lightening that fell to the sea like giant octopus shaped fireworks, again illuminating the whole horizon. All this was accompanied by continuous heavy rain and thunder that first exploded and then rumbled around for ages, which explained the banging I had heard reverberating through the ship. It lasted from 2.45am to 3.30am and then settled down as the rain stopped. During the morning we steamed west north-west paralleling the coast of Papua New Guinea, which was visible at a distance of 12 n. miles. This area is littered with small islands and the first we saw had an active volcano called ‘Manum’. The island, which is five miles wide, had 9,000 inhabitants until major eruptions in 1964 caused them to be evacuated. The last big eruption was in 2004, which was similar in size and caused some deaths. The island is now uninhabited and the still active volcano continues to smoke with small regular eruptions, which at this moment in time had an amount of grey smoke nestling upon the summit. Later in the day we altered our course to a more north westerly heading through the Bismark Sea towards the equator. I had attended my Spanish class whilst Alan attended the continuation of his lectures. In the afternoon the crew held their ‘Tug-of-War’, which was won by the ships engineers (the big fellows!) Alan went on deck to watch and came back with a lobster coloured face! (The humidity and temperature was very high so after my experience last time I decided not to venture out!) The chefs had a display of their ‘signature’ dishes and passengers circulated to vote for the top three. We both had a lazy afternoon and I watched a film before and during my gym session. Then we dressed early because we were dining with Kay and Peter Bradley again, but this time at the Chef’s Galley. It was Pan Asian food; a very interesting selection of Thai, Korean and Malaysian dishes. Following that Alan and I went up on deck to catch the exact time of crossing the equator again. The Commodore had suggested about 10.00pm, but in fact it was exactly 10.34pm. An Australian couple joined us out of interest and were delighted to have experienced the actual event with us. I celebrated by doing my ‘Titanic’ pose, which Alan captured. It was a great evening up there with the moon and the stars shining so brightly overhead. It has been wonderful to see the ‘Southern Cross’ and the ‘Dolphin’ (the only two I can identify and name) but the rest have been a sight to remember. I wonder if we will ever go back into the Southern Hemisphere? We put our watches back one hour and are now 9 hours ahead of the UK.
Sunday, 25th February. As expected it was very warm and humid by the time I got up so I sat on the balcony reading newspapers, doing a crossword and my Spanish homework, whilst Alan attended his lectures. We are now in the Northern Hemisphere and heading north-west into the Philappine Sea with the sun creeping south of us again on our port quarter. It was King Neptune’s crossing the equator party on deck again but we let this one pass us by and went for an early lunch. We had our immigration inspection for arrival in Hong Kong in the afternoon and then after a stroll around the shops I went to the gym while Alan rested. The temperature had been around 29 degrees but with high humidity and a nice breeze. By 8.00pm we were 200 miles west of the Caroline Islands and 10 miles west of the Palou Islands – in line with Davao on the south east coast of the Philappines. It was an enjoyable evening because we had the Pirate’s Ball, where plenty of passengers entered into the spirit of the evening. I was asked to dance by one of the many ‘escorts’ that are in the ball room, mainly for ladies travelling on their own, but on this occasion the guy must have been desperate and he asked me to dance – which I did! Later Alan updated his wall chart and then we went to bed.
Monday, 26th February. Temperatures still around 29 degrees and humidity at 75% as we continued sailing north-west through the Philippine Sea. At dawn we were at our closest point to the ‘Challenger Deep’ in the Mariana Trench, the deepest point of the ocean at 10,923 metres lying 700 n.miles to the east. During the day we sailed parallel to the coast of the Philippines passing the smaller islands of Samar and Leyte to the west. I had been to Spanish and Alan went to hear Prof. John Reich lecture on ‘The European Discovery of Asia’ and then we both went to watch the Japanese Chef’s prepare Sushi. Now we have some good ideas! We were able to watch the ‘Oscars’ live on TV via satellite to see Helen Mirren get hers. I went to the gym early because we had another cocktail party before dinner as it was a formal evening, and where this time we met Commodore Warner. (We usually go through the other door to avoid introductions, but on this occasion we forgot.) Then we went to the theatre because it was the first of the new Cunard Theatre Company’s shows, (they got on at Sydney after leaving the QE2.) Jazz Blues and Rock n’ Roll was a great production, which we thoroughly enjoyed. The sea was a little rougher during the evening due to a strong wind.
Hola Mark
Yo intentaré hablar con usted cuando yo consigo casa.
¡En el momento yo estoy aprendiendo Caperucita Roja!
Yo puedo traducir, pero no puede pronunciar muy bien.
Tuesday, 27th February. The weather improved by morning and we had gentle beautiful blue seas with sunshine and lower humidity, which was quite a relief. Shortly after sunrise we met landfall off the north-eastern top of Luzon in the Philappines before altering course to the west and passing 4 n. miles off Palani Island. This point marked our entry into the Babuyan Channel separating the archipelago of Luzon from the Babuyan Islands. These islands are a series of volcanoes that remained visible throughout our transit and were of great interest to see. By mid-day we sailed close to the islands of Fuge and Barit with beautiful sandy beaches and these marked the end of the channel and our entry into the South China Sea with only 600 feet beneath our keel at this time. Temperatures were about 25 degrees and we were travelling at 26 knots with a following breeze. During the afternoon we steadied on a north-west by westerly rhumb line course taking us across the South China Sea bound for Hong Kong. We had a restful afternoon in preparation for tomorrow and with an ‘elegant casual’ dress code for the evening we relaxed in anticipation of our day ahead. The show was a mix of comedy and skill with a juggler/comedian and a magical dance act. We put watches back one hour tonight and that makes us 8 hours ahead of the UK.