Sunday 2 November 2014

Boring morning at the terminal. Jan went off on a tour to Lantau Island, but I’m too stiff and sore to contemplate such a thing. Skipped breakfast and worked on images and this diary.

After lunch I was ready to go into the terminal to find a wi-fi hotspot to send all this stuff (on my blog). But at 2pm in the terminal I was told I couldn’t go further than a large space with a row of seats and a folding table. I was not allowed to enter Hong Kong in other words. Bloody hell.

I sat down at the table and tried to connect using the FreeGovWiFi hotspot, but in half an hour of trying I couldn’t reach the internet. I tried everything, but no go. Very frustrating. Back to the ship.

Then came the highlight of the trip so far, leaving Hong Kong. We were supposed to leave at 6.30pm, but that time came and went and we weren’t moving. PA announcements were being made for certain names. 7.30pm came and went and still we weren’t moving. We heard later that a group of passengers was still in the terminal drinking coffee so that they could get shots of the ship at twilight. A two hour delay!

Finally at 8pm, just at the fortunate time after the delay. we moved off, stern first, then slowly forward, just in time for the Hong Kong Light Show. to start as the lights came on.

Gliding past the city lights of Hong Kong Island was an unforgettable spectacle, and to have the laser light show as well capped it off, all set to the rhythm of music including golden oldies, the Beatles, ABBA, Bee Gees, Michael Jackson and others. Magic!

I’d brought my tripod up onto the upper deck so I was able to shoot smooth video. I was in a dilemma as I saw my camera’s battery was running very low. I had to dash down and get another camera while Jan held my place at the railing. I must say I am totally crapped off at the rudeness of many eastern European and Chinese people pushing in and standing in front of me. One guy was leaning on my arm! Not just once or twice but for minutes at a time. Ugh.

Our transit out of HK was the opposite of the way we came in. We entered from the east and left to the west, going around the southern side of HK island. Jan and I got into a big discussion about whether we were heading south or north, east or west. He has a Nikon camera which includes a compass and GPS, and to me, he’s reading the compass needle arse about. My built in compass told me where north and south were and I disagreed with his compass. So there. I wish we had Google Earth or a good map. That’s the one thing I really regret, not bringing a detailed paper map.

So then it was dinner at 11pm after a great highlight of the trip. It will live in my memory as one of the best evenings ever.