Departing Hong Kong

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January 19th

All the planning and worry came to a halt today as we set off from the Intercontinental Hotel in Hong Kong with our American size bags.   Early boarding at 1130 and would you believe Sam and Terrie arrived at exactly 1130.  We opted for a cab but the baggage overwhelmed the cab so the driver just stuffed luggage in every place possible.  And whoever said we needed to close the trunk lid, it drives just fine with it flopping in the wind.  I just hoped that nothing of importance fell out along the way.  Thankfully it was only a short ten-minute zoom through downtown Hong Kong to the Harbor City pier where we began the boarding process.

A few lines and a few forms later we were standing on the Lido deck having a nice lunch as they finished the room cleaning.  A nice room, a good view and luggage to unpack is a perfect way to start off a trip.  But the evening entertainment was the best part.  A lifeboat drill, followed by the entire group trying to go to dinner didn’t spoil our beginnings. 

Always on a cruise you run into “interesting” people.  A dinner low light was being seated next to a couple that was a walking perfume counter.   This person wore something like White Shoulders but not a hint but more of a bath in it.  The cloud around overcame the air itself.

What else was an annoyance was the three people that didn’t show up to clear immigration.  Now we couldn’t leave till everyone was processed.  Have you ever heard a British Captain begging three people to release the vessel by getting their clearance?  Well now we have. 

11 PM we set sail to a light show on shore.  Just watching row after row of high-rise apartments pass by as we sailed out of Hong Kong.   Chinese style.  Hundreds of buildings 40 to 50 stories high all made from one blue print.  We sailed by so many we couldn’t count.  This was the mass of China that we had heard about. 

An hour and a half of sailing finally brought us to darkness and the end of our first day of the cruising.