Amsterdam/Asia Cruise - The Ports-Part 1

[bobpatj]

PETROPAVLOVSK, RUSSIA - We sailed from Seattle on Friday, Sept. 21, and arrived at this port on Sat., Sept. 29. It’s a long way and in our case, a rather “bumpy” ride. (Because of the International Dateline crossing, we had NO Wed., Sept. 26.) Petropavlovsk is located on the Kamchatka Peninsula in far eastern Russia. The day dawned with a little wet snow,. This is not a vacation destination! There is not much to see or do, here. We took a HAL tour, Kamchatka Highlights & Cultural Museum. The tour began with a drive to a scenic viewpoint overlooking Avacha Bay, where the ship was anchored. We laughed when the guide said we’d be going to a “scenic viewpoint,” since clouds obscured most of the view. It was cold and wet as we visited a small Russian Orthodox Church and the local market. The Cultural Museum was most interesting, as it told of the indigenous peoples travels to the “New World.” Our tours were delayed, as the local officials had to look at all the passports, give us a “face to passport” check as we left and returned to the ship. Our sailaway was delayed in part, we think, because the officials enjoyed the food and comfort of the ship! No visas were needed to visit here.

 

AOMORI, JAPAN - What a contrast to eastern Russia. Our weather was sunny and pleasant. Aomori is in the northern part of Japan. It is known for it’s annual Nebuta Festival, held in August, where giant floats are rolled down the street, and music and dancing follows. Our HAL tour, Aomori HIghlights, took us to the National Park, where Festival floats are on display. They are amazing and a little scary looking. As loud drumming began, visitors were allowed to move the newest float along a pretend street, to show how floats are “powered.” From there, we went to the excavated Sannai Maruyama ruins, that date back to 3000-2000 BC. The area has been reconstructed to show how it’s believed the people lived, and excavations are continuing all the time. There’s no prettier dock than the one in Aomori. Colored tiles show several pictures of what the city is known for. Besides the festival and the ruins, this is an apple growing area, and we got to sample some. A children’s drum group serenaded us on arrival, and a teen/adult group entertained us at sailaway. As we sailed away after dark, the people on the dock waved glow sticks.

 

YOKOHAMA (TOKYO), JAPAN - After a day at sea, we sailed into Yokohama, the port used for Tokyo visits. The two are like one big city. People live in high-rises, here. Our guide said that the only way to tell if a building is a residence or a business is if there are balconies. Most of the balconies had laundry out to dry. We took our morning tour here with CSI, Tales of Tokyo. Once we got on the highway, the drive was fast, but getting to the highway was slow, due to so much traffic. Our first stop was the Edo-Tokyo Museum, a fascinating new museum showing the growth of the 15th Century village of Edo to the present LARGE city of Tokyo. Wonderful exhibits! Then we visited the beautiful and crowded Senso-ji Temple and the Nakamise Shopping Arcade. In the evening, we returned to Tokyo, with CSI, to view the city from the Tokyo Tower, a beautiful sight with all the lights. We drove along the Ginza, pricey shopping area, on our way back to the ship.

 

 

KOBE, JAPAN - We arrived here the next day. We took different tours, here - Bob stayed in Kobe and took the CSI tour to the Sake Brewery Museum and the Sorakuen Garden, which he enjoyed very much. I took the HAL tour,Kyoto, the Ancient Capital. This was an all day tour and well worth it. From Kobe, we drove through Osaka and then to Kyoto, all seeming like one connected city! The first stop was at the Kinkaku-ji temple, the “Golden Pavilion.” This was so beautiful, as were the surrounding gardens. We then went to the Nijo Castle, where we took off our shoes to walk the corridors, listening for the “nightingale” sounds the floor made as we walked upon them. This was to warn the Emperor of intruders. More beautiful gardens surrounded these buildings. After a European style lunch in a European chain hotel large downstairs room, we went to the beautiful Heian Shinto Shrine, surrounded by more beautiful gardens. Last on the tour was a visit to the local Handicraft Center with 8 floors of everything you could possibly want to buy, in Japan!

 

KAGOSHIMA, JAPAN - It was hard to believe that we had reached our last port in Japan. We were now in the southern part of the country. Kagoshima is known for it’s active volcano, located on an island that was turned into a peninsula by a lava flow in 1914. We were at a new pier, with some construction still going on, tuning landfill into a park. It was the Monday of a national 3-day holiday weekend, so many local families were there to visit the park, the ship and the entertainment. Our CSI tour, Traditions of Kagoshima took us by bus and then ferry to the volcano, Mt. Sakurajima, which at that time in the morning, was mostly cloud covered. There were wonderful trails, there, and scenery of plants growing on volcanic lava rock. Back to Kagoshima on the ferry, our bus took us to the Amamino-Sato Park complex, to learn, from displays, about the area, its history and culture. There were beautiful gardens here, and also a demonstration Oshima Tsumugi Silk factory and, of course, a big gift shop. Wonderful! Our stay here was rather short, as sailaway was at 4 pm. We had another wonderful drum group entertain before we sailed, and a large crowd was there to wave to us - very nice, very touching.

 

CHEJU CITY, CHEJU ISLAND, SOUTH KOREA - This is a small island, south of the mainland and, in warm weather, is a honeymoon destination with hotels and beaches. Our day was rainy and cool. There weren’t too many tours to take here. Bob decided to check out the city on his own, mostly to find an internet cafe, and I took the HAL tour Cheju Highlights at Hallim Weaver. This was quite a distance from the city and took us through lots of open farmland, something we hadn’t seen in Japan. The park we visited is a large botanical garden, lava caves, bonsai arrangements, stone sculptures - wonderful! The rain was light enough that it wasn’t a bother. Our sailaway was at 2 pm, so we didn’t have much time here. It was interesting, watching from the bow, how the ship pulled away from the dock, turned around and somehow missed bumping the docks on either side - very close quarters! We gave “thumbs up!” to the bridge.

[RuthC]

Hi, Pat. I've wanted to take this cruise, in whatever form, ever since 1993! Your posts make it sound even better than I had imagined. Maybe someday.

Thanks for letting me dream. :)

[kakalina]

Pat:

Thanks so much for posting. This all sounds so wonderful. I wish we had been on that cruise. Such fascinating places.

[grannynurse]

Hi Pat,

Your report is fascinating and I can't wait to read more.

If you had not taken a HAL tour in Russia would you have needed a visa?

Please keep writing,

GN

[bobpatj]

We did not need visas for this port, in Russia. What we had to deal with were the slow Russian officials, onboard the ship, to check our passports and our getting on and off the ship. Without a HAL tour, here, there would be little to do but walk around whatever was close to the dock - it was a tender port - and there really was not much to see there, except a pretty small park - Lenin Park, complete with his statue!

[cdkempton]

Thank you for posting your adventures. It sounds like a marvelous cruise so far. Did you go directly from Seattle to Russia or were there stops in Canada or Alaska along the way? Look forward to your next report.

Cheers, Colette

[Maryandi]

Thanks Pat for all the work you are putting into telling us about all the ports and the trip in general. Could you also tell us about the various currencies used wherever you went.

 

As we have a roll call going on the 2008 cruise to many of the same ports, we would all appreciate it.

 

Thanks, MaryAnn

[DFD1]

Thanks, Pat. Great report. Fun to Read. Fascinating part of the world!

[bobpatj]

WOWZO,

 

The ship would exchange dollars for all local currencies. The hawkers in Beijing and Shanghai asked for dollars. Most everywhere we went, credit cards were accepted. It was good to have at least $10 to $20 worth of local currency to use for small purchases, bus fares, etc.