Home. Sweet. Home - back to small-town comforts, baked beans on toast for dinner and waking up when I want!
My last day on board the Sea Princess :( It’s been an awesome contract. Me and Corey spent the day in Osaka and caught a tram out to Osaka castle. Great way to finish this amazing Asian experience!
Konichiwa Japan!
Went on a city drive tour today. First stop was Mt Inasa, the highest point in Nagasaki
After, we headed down back through the city and made our way to Peace Memorial Park
Different countries have contributed peace monuments over recent years
We were back by lunchtime so me and my friend Sophie headed out to Chinatown in search of sushi
One of the most BEAUTIFUL places I’ve been yet. The city itself is an amazing landscape with so many different kinds of architecture. The tour I went on was one of the best I’ve done yet. We travelled for about an hour to Zhujiaojiao, a local water village. Nicknamed the ‘Venice of the East’, it was like another world!
Markets and food were round every corner - so many different sounds in smells in one place. We visited an old herbal medicine store
We made our way through some more markets to the Old Post Office in the middle of the village
After we finished things off with a boat ride back through the canals to take in some more of the spectacular everyday lives of these peole
We made our way back into Shanghai city and had lunch at the Silk Factory restaurant then took a tour of the factory to learn how silk is made
Definitely a place I wont forget!
It’s a well known cruise tradition that when crossing the equator, one must hold a crossing ceremony with King Neptune and his noble court and ask permission to cross the equatorial line. This was my first ceremony and was a lot of fun to dress up and be a part of. Basically, those who have not crossed the line before must be presented before ‘King Neptune’ and judged and deemed worthy to go from a ‘pollygog’ to a ‘shellback’. Passengers and crew take part and get covered in mess - good times!
With an overnight in Hong Kong, I had the first evening free as well, so a bunch of us headed downtown to watch the light show (which happens everyday at 8pm)
After that we headed to a nearby Chinese restaurant to dine like the locals
And to show you how random (yet exciting) Honk Kong is, we finished up the night at Ned Kellys, an IRISH bar, where we chilled out, drank and enjoyed some live music (including an appearance by Sea Princess’s band Derringer!) - Hoegaarden is one my new favourite beers!
A night to remember!!
The port we’ve all been waiting for - overnight in Hong Kong! Today was such a perfect day. Went on a city drive tour which took us around a few different tourist-y sites. First up we drove through the city over to Hong Kong island where we jumped on a sampan for a 20 minute cruise along the river
Next stop was the Hong Kong jewellery store where we had a short stop to purchase some local goods - I was more interested in the statues outside the showroom lol.
Next up we hit the Stanley Street markets. Pretty similar to markets back home with a couple of Asian specialities like silks and swords. Bought an oil painting of the market as a souvenir :)
Last, we drove up to the top of Mt Victoria for some incredible views of the city. Then we all caught a tram back to the bottom - riding backwards at a 45 degree angle down a mountain was an interesting experience for sure!
This city is incredible, I definitely want to come back - it’s amazing how comfortable I felt here despite not knowing the language or culture too well.
In Malaysia today! Feel like this is the port where I’m finally experiencing Asia this cruise. Me and fellow cruise staffer Sam got off today and had a wander around. It’s amazing to me how little divide there is here between poverty and western luxuries (like malls). We literally walked down a manky back alley with dead rats into an air-conditioned super complex. Soooo many shops here and super cheap. Purchase of the day - some new jeans for a whopping $25 - score!
That’s right Bali baby! Unfortunately had to work today but the weather was super hot at least so had some fun in the sun on deck. Super jealous of people on tour today - their photos looked AMAZING!
