2019 - China & Japan (Part 1 - Shanghai & cruise departure)

Tuesday 13 August & Wednesday 14 August

The flight up on China Eastern was okay. Nothing special, nothing bad. Arrived a wee bit late.
The 144 hour transit visa worked fine. The system could not find my prefilled form so had to do it again manually. You end up with a small blue sticker in your passport with the dates and areas you are allowed to stay in.

After a short stop at the dentist, we went to Taikang Market, an old area of town converted into lots of shops.

A random tree lined street in Shanghai near the dentist.

Taikang Market.

Thursday 15 August

Very hot, so after brekkie we went to Zhongshan Park. Not a lot there except for a large bell.

The bell in Zhongshan Park.

After a slightly dodgy lunch (we had to send back the chicken), we went out to the Qi Bao historic town. It used to be a separate town way out in the countryside, but is now right on the end on Hongqiao Airport's runway.

The entrance to the old town of Qi Bao.

One of the many cafes etc in Qi Bao.

Hung, a restaurant, and a boy who noticed.

An alley in Qi Bao.

The canal in Qi Bao.

The bridge in Qi Bao.

The tree of luck.

More shops in Qi Bao.

Another restaurant.

The main reason we were way out there was to meet a friend of Hung's whom she had not seen in many years. An excellent dinner was had by all.

Friday 16 & Saturday 17 August

More of the same, wandering around the local area, visiting the brother in law, and arguing over who was paying for dinner. I tried several times to pay but they would not let me.

A fine example of a Chinese menu item translated into English.

Stinky tofu (but quite tasty).

Sunday 18 August

We were collected by Lu for the trip to Wusongkou Cruise Terminal. It was very busy with 4000 passengers checking in and the many lines were long (bag drop, check in, security, immigration, queue getting on the ship (Majestic Princess), security on the ship and so on). Of the 4000 passengers, 2500 were Chinese (including a couple of hundred children as it was school holidays) and 1500 internationals, i.e. not Chinese.

Me posing with the ship (and luggage guys).

Hung posing with the ship.

Leaving Shanghai in the rain.

Leaving from Wusongkou terminal, chased by a thunderstorm.

The starboard side.

It's the red one by a nose.

The atrium from level 9.

The atrium.

Relaxing on our balcony on deck M.

The starboard side of the ship again.

Our room was up on deck M, the one directly underneath the pool and the buffet. The room (I suppose I should call it a cabin as we are after all on a large ship) was clean and tidy and had sufficient room for us and our stuff. It was a great location, right next to the stairs that came out by the pool and buffet entrance.

After lunch in the buffet, we wandered around trying to find things, getting lost, making dinner reservations, informing the customer services team we were planning on leaving the ship early in Japan and relaxing.

We had a complimentary dinner and bottle of wine in one of the speciality restaurants courtesy of the travel agent we booked it through so we chose the grill. Excellent steaks and bottle of NZ red was enjoyed by all.