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Cruising Through Asian Seas
- Jan 15
- 5 min read
We began in Yokahama, Japan, with the threat of a typhoon lingering offshore. Great! I expected to be overtaken by motion sickness as soon as we left shore. As it turned out, I wasn’t, and for someone who is prone to motion sickness, I wasn’t affected at all. Not once!
From Yokahama, we sailed to ports providing land-tour access to Nagoya, Kyoto, Hiroshima and Kagoshima. We visited a variety of palaces, museums, Shinto and Buddhist temples, and more. We walked through a bamboo forest, climbed the foot of a volcano, and visited the amazing Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum which reminds the visitor of the fierce and horrificconsequence of modern-day warfare. The tragic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki is told with the grace, reverence and forgiveness that can be told only by the Japanese people who lived it.
Our next stop was to be Shanghai, China. However, we were informed at the ‘last minute’ that the ship would not be able to dock at any Chinese ports. Something to do with tariffs imposed on China by the US government. I’ll say no more.
Instead, I was delighted to hear that we would be docking in Busan, Korea for a two-day stay. Once again, our shore tour took us to an ancient palace, a buffet lunch of typical Korean food and a walking tour of the Busan fish market, among other sites. Having watched many Korean television series, including two just before we left for our voyage – ‘When Life Gives You Tangerines’ and ‘Mr. Sunshine’, I felt immersed in vivid memories.
In Taiwan, we were welcomed to Taipei by our neighbour’s brother, who hosted us on a tour of the National Palace Museum, treated us to a tasty Taiwanese lunch, and walked us through the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall.
Of course, we had a typical stop in Hongkong where my husband purchased a made-to-ordersuit. Later that day, we delighted in watching a light show typically hosted every evening by the city and its merchants in and around Kowloon Harbour. The view from the top of the ship, Oceania’s Riviera, was spectacular.
Of course, we had a typical stop in Hongkong where my husband purchased a made-to-ordersuit. Later that day, we delighted in watching a light show typically hosted every evening by the city and its merchants in and around Kowloon Harbour. The view from the top of the ship, Oceania’s Riviera, was spectacular.
The next few days were spent in Vietnam, now one of my favourite countries to visit. The first port involved a long, slow cruise through mystical Ha Long Bay, where limestone islands magically appear in clear emerald waters, to become inspiration for movies such as ‘Kong: Skull Island’, ‘Pan’, ‘Indochine’, ‘The Creator’, ‘The Quiet American’ and ‘Tomorrow Never Dies’. This port hosted a light show only on weekends.
From Ha Long Bay, the ship moved to Chan May Port. On the day’s agenda was a group tour to Hue, to visit the Hue Citadel, including the Imperial City, the Forbidden Purple City and the Royal City. We were also supposed to visit the tomb of King Tu Duc, share an authentic Vietnamese lunch and visit the Thien Mu Pagoda.
The day started out with heavy rain and wind. Definitely . . . not . . . umbrella weather. After driving for an hour, we arrived in Hue which, at that point was already under several inches of water, washing over the flip-flop clad feet of scooter drivers and sloshing around cars as if they were boats.
By the time we arrived at the Imperial City, water was over our ankles, but we continued the tour inside the palace grounds as the bus driver monitored the rise of river water. About 40 minutes into our tour, the driver phoned our guide with a call to action “Get out now!” Our guide immediately morphed from a pleasant, knowledgeable young man into a man on a mission: to return to his guests to the bus safely.
On our return walk to the bus, we were awed and dismayed to discover that the river had overflowed the last yards of our trek, and we were forced to wade through murky water that chopped at the top of my thighs. Our tour for the day abruptly ended at the Imperial Palace.
As the driver endeavoured to return us to the ship, hampered by constant closures of several flooded side streets, we tried to stay warm in our mud-soaked clothing. Two hours later, we were successfully deposited at the ship. We thanked our driver and guide for the remarkable adventure and bid them farewell as they went in search of their own shelter.
As the day unfolded, we heard numerous stories of how other passengers had been impacted by the unexpected flood, and the typhoon-like wind and rain that had finally caught up with us.
Next stop, Saigon or ‘Ho Chi Minh City’ as it is now known. We spent two days touring the city and surrounding area, including a water journey across the Mekong Delta to a small island where we transferred to a 4-person wooden canoe. A boatman poled the canoe along a small tributary draped by mangroves, ferns and water coconuts. The only sound was
water lapping against the canoe and birds chirping.
The following day we each mounted a rickshaw for a tour of the markets of Saigon, after which we enjoyed a bowl of Michelin Star chicken noodle soup.
Before we moved along to Singapore, we had a ‘sea day’ during which we celebrated Halloween. During prior days prior, the crew had been busy skillfully decorating pumpkins and baking unusual treats for afternoon tea. I took a copy of ‘Tsarina’s Jewels’ along for tea.
The highlight of our Singapore tour was a Night Safari, featuring numerous Asian creatures including sloths, leopards, elephants, tigers, lions, hyenas, giant anteaters, pangolins, and more.
Although the flood in Hue became the highlight of our Asia adventure, our intended highlight was Ko Samui, Thailand, where we visited an elephant sanctuary. We were given ingredients to make them a snack of mango, tumarick, banana, etc. which we molded into round balls with water, and passed to enquiring trunks.
Thus ended our tour of the southern seas of Asia - from Japan to Thailand - with stops along the way. There are so many memories. There is so much to share. For now, I’ll stop here.
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