April 9, 2024

Shanghai, China

Oh my god, this place is over the top! 

Shanghai is quite a way inland from the open sea.  We took on our first of three pilots at 7 AM.  We docked at 3 PM up the Huangpu River.  Kind of like the Port of Portland, where the ships need to navigate the Columbia and Willamette rivers. 

This place is full of glitz and glamour, it puts Las Vegas to shame.  Fantastic architecture and the lighting at night is the most amazing we have ever seen.

But it’s still China.  I’m not going to rant about my feelings about China, you already know how I feel.  I realize that I have an unnatural fear of China, even to the point of almost not booking this cruise because it was going there.  I asked Kim several months ago, what if one of us has a medical emergency and ends up in the hospital and we must leave the ship?  Well, in the six degrees of separation category, we saw Nancy, our new friend that we do a lot with.  She was obviously distraught, she told us Chuck, her husband was in the hospital!  Too Close for me! Good news, after an overnight stay, he was released and is back on the ship. 

The immigration process when we arrived was grueling, we were all required to do a face-to-face visit with the Chinese agents.  The problem was we had to walk about a half a mile to get there and then wait until the entire ship was cleared before we were allowed to walk another half mile back to the ship.  Really, they can’t figure out a better way?  It baffles me that just a few years ago, we visited New Zealand, Australia and Japan.  There were no required visas, no big immigration processes, just a ‘welcome to our country’.  What changed?

They do call it the love boat afterall!

The next day, I enjoyed the day poolside watching the river traffic back and forth.  Kim went on an 8 ½ hour tour.

There were hundreds of these motor barges, you can see that they almost sink them when full.

Kim saw this very typical temple that was a few hundred years old.

This is taken from our room, they are spaced about 100 feet apart everywhere, big brother watching?

And now another eposode of poolside chronicles, you can’t make this shit up, Even slow days find me amazed by the stupid coments I hear. I’m now totally convinced that the person that coined the phrase “There’s no such thing as a stupid question” never went on a cruise. So, the lady at the table next to me asks “What do you think those yellow and white boats that go back and forth across the river are doing?”, Welll, I’m not giving you the answer today, but if you can’t figure it out on your own, please feel free to contact me. You will probably make my next poolside chronicles as a star.

We are now out of China and headed for Hong Kong.  I’m going to do something that will shock you all, stay tuned.