Celebrations
and New Year over
It
must be time to travel again and this time have vowed to do blog as I
go along! Hopefully the rest of last year will follow along quite
quickly once I get back, well that is the plan.
Left
Salisbury on lovely clear sunny morning for Heathrow, so roof down,
music blaring the joys of being footloose and fancy free. Good flight
to Hong Kong, a necessary evil in my desire to see more of Japan than
the average land based tour. Fellow passengers generally older than
me but not all and some fairly sprightly ones amongst them. Glad I
have double cabin even at the cost, as plenty of room to unpack and
check out where everything is before jet lag caught up. Just before
dinner there was a chance to get some photos of the island all lit up.
The
following morning I took a tour round Kowloon, where we are docked,
visiting the Chi Lin Buddhist Nunnery and Nan Lian Garden. Whilst
looking old, the temple has been re built from the original 1934
version (although in a style dating back 100s of years)
and the gardens only date from 2005 with imported trees. It is a very tranquil place amid the high rises of the surrounding area as you can see. The sun came out so very pleasant to wander around
and the gardens only date from 2005 with imported trees. It is a very tranquil place amid the high rises of the surrounding area as you can see. The sun came out so very pleasant to wander around
and watch other people working.
Back
to the ship after local vegetarian lunch and the jade market, (all too garrish for me) so
decided to make the trip on the Star Ferry across to Hong Kong Island
partly so could take picture of Minerva which is fairly small as this
shows
and get a daylight shot of Hong Kong island
(Rather proud of this one below)
Couldn't take too long as sailing at 17.30 just as lights starting to come on and clouds coming in
and get a daylight shot of Hong Kong island
(Rather proud of this one below)
Couldn't take too long as sailing at 17.30 just as lights starting to come on and clouds coming in
with
a final reminder of the season (if you can read the geetings!).
3
days at sea until due to dock at Shanghai but plenty of films and
lectures to occupy one's time, not to mention exercises(!), as well as
trying to get my sleep patterns rather more in tune with local time.
Had to batten down the hatches and were prohibited from walking round
the decks for a while because of very high winds. Fortunately not
buffeting from the side but walking becomes more interesting when
either the floor meets you before you expect it or worse disappears
when you are putting your foot down. Once we had turned into the
estuary some rolling then it all calmed down for our long trip up the
river to the port.
Welcome
to Shanghai!
View
from the ship, quite stunning.
Morning
city tour visiting the Jade Budha Temple, the most prestigious in
Shanghai
The old against the newest skyscraper in town,
as you can see full of tourists and not just off our ship!
Then to the Yu Garden in the old town, weather glorious cold and clear .
With an arty shot
plus a look at the roof decorations
plus a look at the roof decorations
After
lunch took a walk along the Bund with great views of the skyline
and where the tragic events of New Year's Eve took place when too many people came to watch the fireworks. Rather liked this artwork lots of rubbing going on for luck as ever, with the more colonial buildings in the immediate background.
Then walked through the city to the Museum which has some interesting art, (but on the way saw this building, Sauron's Tower anyone if you have seen Lord of the Rings.)
and where the tragic events of New Year's Eve took place when too many people came to watch the fireworks. Rather liked this artwork lots of rubbing going on for luck as ever, with the more colonial buildings in the immediate background.
Then walked through the city to the Museum which has some interesting art, (but on the way saw this building, Sauron's Tower anyone if you have seen Lord of the Rings.)
and
beautiful jade, like this which dates to about 2,500 BC!
Didn't
have time to do it justice unfortunately and have to be up at
silly o'clock to visit a village on the outskirts of the city
tomorrow so unlikely to have the chance to go back.
Another
beautiful day although the air quality is getting worse and becoming
more hazy, and this is the sun rising, not something that happens to me too often.
They have made attempts to restrict cars and increase public transport but in a city of 26 million people it is undoubtedly difficult.
They have made attempts to restrict cars and increase public transport but in a city of 26 million people it is undoubtedly difficult.
Trip
out to village past the second most important temple
and
this rather wonderful plant butterfly.
The local side streets could be anywhere it seems
The
village, which is clearly designed for tourists of all nationalities
including other Chinese, has been developed from it's original existence as a small
village on a lake. It is however very picturesque as you can see.
This is air drying pork, right on the path with all the tourists walking past,
we had a boat ride back to the coach.
Next stop a silk factory where they make quilts using the silk from double
cocoons, very lightweight and labour intensive, here they are stretching the silk which can't be spun, tough work.
Late lunch on the ship and sit in the afternoon sun before cast off and watching the sunset as we set off down the river. The river is very wide and very well used for barges as well as tourist boats with a constant flow,
so organising our turn round was left to the river police, clearly one doesn't mess with them!
Can't get better than those!
No comments:
Post a Comment