Results tagged “Sickness” from East Asia 2017
Had a bit of a broken night's sleep on account of not being able to breathe.
At 6:20 the alarm went off to wake up.
Arrival in Incheon was pretty boring. I missed coming under the bridge, but then we docked at a new terminal area in the middle of nowhere (they haven't even built the terminal yet). Downloaded the GPS log since Busan.
Had some breakfast at Kings Court around 8:00.
At 8:45 we went into the Royal Court Theatre to check in to our tour. Where we then had to wait and wait and wait. This time the Korean immigrations had setup laptops in the Queens Room to process everyone. So we had to collect our passports, walk past the temperature sensor, then get our passports stamped. Then we dropped off our passports and got a shore card. They had a truck setup outside with a portable gangway, but it was *very* steep getting up it. We could have really just gone straight off the ship onto the wharf, rather than up and over, but apparently the tides change quite a lot and they were going to have to rearrange things during the day. It was after 10:00 before our coach left the wharf.
So then it was the really long drive into Seoul.
Our first stop was the National Museum. We lasted about five minutes with the crowds and our tour guide before we went off and wandered the place on our own. Sure we probably missed out on hearing about some things in more detail, but we did get a nice long look at all the celadon (a green glazed ceramic), and an amazing exhibition of items recovered in 1975 from a shipwreck.
Entrance of the National Museum of Korea
Gold Crown and Girdle, National Treasure #191 and #192
Gold Crown Ornament, National Treasure #630
Ten Story Pagoda, National Treasure #86
Dragon shaped ewer celadon, National Treasure #61
Ewer celadon
Celadon plate
Objects from the Sinan shipwreck
Objects from the Sinan shipwreck
Coins from the Sinan shipwreck
Then it was off to lunch at a place in the city. There was about fifteen different courses!! It was pretty insane. And I was having fun until I was eating all the green vegetables in a cold "porridge" when I got a huge slice of raw green chili. My mouth exploded. I should have spat it out, but I was on a table full of strangers. So that was super painful (I was in tears) and kinda ruined the rest of the meal. And our tour guide didn't seem to understand that people need to use the bathroom, and so we had to try and find it ourselves when we should have been going out to get back on the coach.
Han Jeongsik traditional lunch at Jinjinbara
Han Jeongsik traditional lunch at Jinjinbara. That green chili sunk in with the rest of the vegetables and my mouth exploded when I ate it :(
Han Jeongsik traditional lunch at Jinjinbara
After lunch it started raining. Yay. We went to Bukchon village next, a line of houses built in the 1930s by a dude who wanted to preserve houses built in traditional Korean style. But it's a residential street and I think the people that live there hate the fact that it's a huge tourist destination.
Sungnyemun Gate
Bukchon Hanok Village
Bukchon Hanok Village
Bukchon Hanok Village
Bukchon Hanok Village
Traditional dress store
Girls in traditional dress
Still raining. We drove past the presidential "blue house" and got one or two photos through foggy and rain-smeared windows.
The Blue House
Then into the royal palace next door. Still raining on and off. Had a decent wander around there which was pretty cool.
Gwanghwamun Gate
Heungnyemun Gate
Geunjeongjeon hall
Inside Geunjeongjeon hall
Courtyard of Geunjeongjeon hall and Bukhansan Mountain
Gargoyle at Geunjeongjeon hall
Covered walkway on west side of Geunjeongjeon hall
Covered walkway on west side of Geunjeongjeon hall
Gyeonghoeru pavilion
Bukhansan Mountain
Locals in traditional dress
Decorative roof at Gyeongbokgung Palace
Gangnyeongjeon hall
Inside Gangnyeongjeon hall
Locals in traditional dress
Looking towards Gwanghwamun Gate from Heungnyemun Gate
Gargoyle at Gyeongbokgung Palace
Asian women need instructions on how to use the toilets
Girls toilets at Gyeongbokgung Palace
So a reasonably decent tour. Shame about the weather.
Finally a very long drive back to the ship.
Banghwa Bridge
Queen Mary 2 docked at Incheon Port International Passenger Terminal
Queen Mary 2 docked at Incheon Port International Passenger Terminal
Incheon Bridge, connecting Yeongjong Island and the mainland of Incheon
Sunset aboard the Queen Mary 2
Queen Mary 2 bell
19:30 the usual pub for drinks/music/trivia (we got 16/20 this time - would have gotten a couple more if we'd joined with the table that marked ours - they knew two that we didn't heh). Really must join ranks with some English people as the questions do tend to be a bit British-centric.
When we got to dinner we found two new people on our table (Bruce and Maria from Sydney). They'd been on board since Sydney and were going all the way to Southampton. But they kept on being at a table by themselves and asked to join someone else. We'd had two seats free since Virginia and Bob got off in Shanghai so that was quite nice. Stu had chicken consomme, Korean chicken and chocolate volcano cake. I had smoked duck, penne, and wasn't going to have dessert because I was so full, but got tempted by the key lime pie heh.
I really feel like we don't belong on this cruise. Bruce and David spent most of the evening talking about travelling business class and comparing airlines, and the sizes of their apartments. Bruce and Maria live in one of the toasters in Circular Quay, and at one point I think I overheard it was 192 square metres (although only heard a snatch of that conversation I could be wrong). Various British couples we've met have summer homes in Europe. We're too young and not rich enough to belong on this cruise...
Slept in til 06:48 hurrah.
Sunrise over the Korea Strait
I'd gotten a bread roll from King's Court last night, so had that as an early breakfast to keep me going.
After a couple of tries to find a washing machine free I got our washing started. But when I came back near the end to put it in a drier, a little old guy came in from another laundry with a bag of wet washing and put it in the drier I was just about to use. And I'm like DUDE, I was literally about to use that. Buttplug. He didn't care. So I'm standing there feeling completely screwed over with nowhere to do my drying. But someone took their drying out a bit early, and the washing machine beneath it still had a way to go, so I put my drying in there. And then I came back with a book to sit in the corridor outside the laundry so *my* drying wouldn't get stolen. So much drama, so much rage. HATE.
I've been drinking the water out of the taps with no issues (they desalinate most of their water, but also get supplies of fresh water when in port). But this morning the water *stank* of chlorine. urgh.
Did some catching up with the blogging, and then it was about 11:15. I hadn't eaten anything else, and Stu hadn't eaten at all. So we were about to go to the buffet when I said we should go have lunch in Britannia, because we hadn't done that on accounting of always having breakfast so late. So we did that. We got put on a table with a couple from the UK (who owned a summer home in Spain or Portugal) and a couple from Darwin (the dude had grown up in Rhodesia and gotten out before it got really bad there). I was feeling sick and anti social though, so it was a bit of an odd lunch. And Stu's random camera, which I thought I'd charged the battery for, was completely flat. So I must have gotten mixed up and only charged the other battery. Stu had mackeral, a fisherman's pie and rice pudding. I had cream of parsnip soup which was quite nice, some lasagna which was also nice but didn't have any salad so I was feeling like I should have some fibre, so had some tinned fruit.
After lunch I went up to have a look at the bridge viewing area, just behind the bridge on deck 12. While I was looking, the Chief Officer came out and had a sign in Cunard font that said no photos, and if it was placed between the two windows would I have read it. And I'm like, no, you really need the graphic of a camera with a red line through it. They do have one, but it's on the furthest window, so it'd be pretty easy to not even realise you can't take photos there. Then he very sweetly let me take a photo there!! I was so excited :)
Bridge of the Queen Mary 2
Read for a little while in the afternoon and did some more catching up on blogging. The GPS was being a bit bumheadful today and kept losing signal.
I also had a look at some of the "Maritime Quest" info boards.
At 17:00 we put on the talk that we missed in the morning on account of buttplugs being buttplugs in the laundry - What eats sharks for breakfast - by marine biologist Ingrid Vissor. That was very interesting.
Went to the pub around 19:30 for drinks, music and trivia. Only got 15/20 this time.
For dinner Stu had pate de Campagne, vegetable tartlet and bread and butter pudding. I had strawberry and champagne soup, pork loin and cheesecake.
My cold changed from being mostly a cough to being a stuffed up nose. Hurrah.
Woke up at 05:00 but mostly got back to sleep til around 06:00. Got up and spent ages getting caught up with blogging and photos.
Stu woke up sick :( Too many people in this part of the world and too many of them sick. It was inevitable I guess...
We thought we'd get Maccas for breakfast, on account of it should be a lot cheaper than the big buffet breakfast, and that Stu could then have it in the room without him needing to get up and ready first. So I went down to get some. Except I was running very low on cash so tried to pay on credit card. Except McDonalds in the Galaxy Macau do not take credit cards. What century is this guys???? So reluctantly I went and got another 500 MOP out at the ATM (minimum withdrawal at those ATMs is 500) and bought breakfast. And at 134 MOP it wasn't really any cheaper that the buffet *sigh*.
After we got ready we took one of the hotel shuttle buses over to the peninsula. Wandered up past the Lisboa up to Senado Square. Sat around there for a little while and had a guy from Seattle chat to us for a bit.
Macau across Nam Van Lake
Grand Lisboa Macau
Casino Lisboa
Mammoth tusk carving in the lobby of the Grand Lisboa, Macau
Mammoth tusk carving in the lobby of the Grand Lisboa, Macau
Lobby of the Grand Lisboa, Macau
Portuguese pavement of a flamingo
Historic buildings and fountain in Senado Square
Trees growing out of the side of buildings in Senado Square
Senado Square
Senado Square
Then wandered up the square past all the shoe shops and jerky shops, evenutally stopping at Starbucks for a pitstop.
St Dominic's Church
Interior of St Dominic's Church
Eventually made it up to the ruins of St Paul's.
Ruins of St Paul's Cathedral
View south from St Paul's Cathedral
Ruins of St Paul's Cathedral
Then continued up to the fortress. There's signs all around the place pointing where everything is, but they dried up at the bottom of the fortress and we ended up turning left instead of right and did a very long wander around the base of the fortress. Which was fine because it had a nice view and there wasn't many people and it was quiet. Oh yes, Stu got a migraine just as we were leaving the hotel so all the people and noises were a bit stressful.
Flowers in a tree next to the Macau fortress
Finally made it to the top of the fortress which was pretty cool.
View north-west from Macau fortress
View to Guia Lighthouse from the Macau fortress
South wall of the Macau fortress
Canon seemingly taking aim at the Grand Lisboa
Panorama view south and west from Macau fortress
Macau museum
Took the escalators down off the hill then wandered back down the way we'd come. We had seen a 26A on the way up, and thought there'd be a bus stop along Av de Almeida Ribeiro, but we never saw one.
Ended up down at Nam Van Lake so I left Stu to sit for a while and went on a pretty long walk to take photos of bridges and the Kun Iam Statue.
Hotel Lisboa
Governor Nobre de Carvalho Bridge
Macau Tower
Macau over Nam Van Lake
Tree roots along Av. Dr. Sun Yat-Sen
MGM Grand Macau
Lion outside the MGM Grand Macau
Kun Iam Statue
Went and collected the sweetie and headed back to the Star World Casino for a bus back to our hotel.
Sai Van Bridge
Galaxy Hotel
When we got back we went downstairs and had a swim in the heated pool. We didn't go in the rapids thingie because frankly it was just too far to walk (my feet were killing me). So we just stayed in the heated pool which was right downstairs from us and that was very nice.
Rooftop heated pool of the Galaxy Hotel
Next we thought we'd get dinner from the Tastes of Asia food court downstairs. But these guys, as well as not taking credit card, don't even take cash!!! You have to use one of their stoopid card systems. I did what any person who was so tired and hungry would do - I lost it. What sort of place doesn't even take cash?? Might be ok if you're local and have the cards they want, but it's really not very friendly for tourists. I had 250MOP in cash that I needed to spend before the next day. And I didn't want to go get a card because you always lose leftover money on those things (it's the principle of the thing). We looked at a couple of the nearby restaurants, but 250MOP might have gotten me a bottle of wine or one dish, but nothing else. And I really didn't feel like walking all the way over to Taipa. So we had KFC. Because they took my damned money and they were right there. But I could barely stomach it. It was all very upsetting.
After dinner I went (by myself, *sigh*) back to the peninsula to take photos of the casinos at night. The Lisboa is a bit insane.
Wynn's Casino by night
Hotel Lisboa by night
Wynn's Casino by night
Governor Nobre de Carvalho Bridge by night
Macau buildings by night
Grand Lisboa by night
Hotel Lisboa by night
Grand Lisboa by night
Casino Lisboa by night
Hotel Lisboa by night
The shuttle bus back from there dumps you right at the very southern end of the Galaxy resort, but I didn't want to walk through the shops again, and you can't walk over to the Parisian or the Venetian without walking All The Way Around the streets and front entrances (another couple of kilometre walk) so I didn't bother going to see them either. Oh well. Guess I'm never going to see those at night. Just walked around the outside of our hotel. At least it was peace and quiet. Collapsed into bed about 21:30.
The Parisian by night