1st Day at Sea - Sept 17

Woke up very late.  We both had been awake at various times throughout the night, but in the morning, slept quite well.  It was 8:44 when I got up and went into the shower.  By the time we both had finished, it was almost 10:00.

We went up to the buffet for some breakfast.  There were big, rolling waves, so the ship was rolling around a bit, making it difficult to walk.  Dawn was a little unsteady, so I held onto her, so she would feel more comfortable while walking.  I dished up her plate while she sat at a table, outside at the stern of the ship.  Then I went and picked up my plate - french toast, lots of bacon, a couple sausages, and some scrambled eggs.  Too much, but it was our first breakfast ;-).

After that we walked around a bit, then went back to our room.  Dawn had booked a pedicure for 12:45, so we stayed in our room until about 12:30, and then I walked up with her to the Spa.

I dropped her off, and then went on a walk myself.  As I said, it is a small ship, and it didn't take me long to case out all the spots.  There isn't a lot to find, but I did see the Captain's Circle area, and the place where tours can be booked. I walked up to each floor, exploring if there was something of interest.  Then, back to my room while I waited for Dawn to finish.

When I went to pick her up, she asked me to get her some Gravol - the rocking and rolling at the bow of the ship was upsetting her stomach.  I went and got some, and then waited for her to be finished, just outside the Spa in the Card Room.  She was about 15 minutes longer.

When she came out, she didn't look too healthy, so we went back to the room and she got into bed and slept.  After a couple hours she woke up, and said she was feeling much better.

About 5:30, we left for the restaurant, arriving before the doors opened.  In a few minutes, they let us in, and we went to our table (we wanted to get there early enough to get the same chairs as earlier, not wanting to end up sitting on the couch that was for 2 people and was facing away from the window.  It would have been very difficult for Dawn to get into and out of.

Our friends from yesterday arrived (Marlene and Donna), and we talked about the day.  Donna had not felt well either, and had also had some gravol.  Just after we ordered, the waiter brought another gentleman (Jim) to sit at our table.  Jim's wife (Lois) was not feeling well also, and she stayed in their room.  They are from Pennsylvania.

Had a nice dinner.  Dawn had beef medallions, and I had spicy rubbed roast beef.  Both were great.  We really enjoyed the vegetables - not cooked too long.  Desert was a double fudge cookie and ice cream for me, and key lime pie for Dawn.  We were very full when it was over.

From there, we went to the show.  We were a little late arriving, so didn't get great seats, but they also weren't too close to the stage..  The act was a young male singer who sang Sinatra and Buble songs.  He was pretty good, but it wasn't overly interesting to us so we left after about half an hour.

Then it was back to our room to read and watch TV, and then off to bed.  A quiet day, but one with fairly rough seas, and overcast skies with rain every now and then.  There is not a speck of land in sight.  At the last sign on the TV, we were over 400 miles from Vancouver heading Southwest toward Hawaii.

Departure Day - Sept 16

We arrived at the ship at about 1:30.  The bus picked us up from the hotel at about 11:40.  There were 2 other folks there, also going on the trip.  They were from Anchorage, Alaska.

We got across the Oak Street Bridge when the driver got a phone call to go back and pick up some other folks who were late for the bus.  He turned us around and back we went to another hotel.  On the way, another call for another couple at a different hotel.  By the time we had everybody, there were 8 of us, all going to the same place.  The first couple we picked up were from Seymour Arm on the Shuswap, so they were like neighbors.  We didn't find out where the 4th couple was from.

Once at the Cruise Ship terminal, we went through security and boarded the ship.  There was nobody in line, so it was a quick, painless boarding (except Dawn had to get her picture taken a few times).

We found our room on the 7th floor.  It was/is very small, but we will make it work.  The whole ship is small compared to the others we have been on.

We went down to our Muster Station early for the evacuation drill, so that Dawn didn't have to walk the stairs.  When we got off the elevator, they were just closing them, so we timed it perfectly.  Our station was in the restaurant and we were almost the first there, so we chose a place to sit where we could see out the window.

Just before the meeting was to start, another fellow joined us.  He was from New York, and had only been to Vancouver a couple times.  He didn't believe that it rained much there because each time he was there, the sun had been shining.  He had quite a favorable impression of Vancouver.  He was a retired educator, too, and was giving presentations on the ship about Celestial Navigation.  We'll try to make one of his presentations.;

After that, it was up to the top deck for the departure.  As usual, it was so smoothly done that it was hard to tell we were moving.  Vancouver's skyline is beautiful in the sunshine.  We crept under the Lion's Gate Bridge, through English Bay, and moved on south towards the Straits of Juan de Fuca.

We had selected the dining room as our dining choice.  The first sitting is at 5:45, so we headed there to join our table.  There were only 2 others there, at a table for 8.  Marlene and Donna were both from Saskatoon, and sailing without their husbands.  We had a great meal (salmon for Dawn, and prime rib for me) and fine conversation with them.  Donna had never cruised before, and Marlene had been on a few cruises.  She said that the first dinner is not usually well attended, but the rest of the folks usually show up after that.

Next we went to the show room (there isn't a theater on this boat) to watch the opening show where they give a taste of the entertainment that will be coming up on the cruise.  The best part was a singer/guitar player/comedian who had us laughing a lot.  He took old songs from the 50's 60's and 70's and played and sang parts of them, using his own lyrics.  He was pretty funny and we will make sure to go to his show.

After that, we headed back to our room.  Dawn was tired, and I got more and more tired.  Did some reading and watching of TV, and then went to bed.

Drive in to Richmond - Sept 15

Got up in the morning and it was pretty quiet.  Both Doug and Stella had gone to work, and when I got up, Kelly was making her breakfast.  Monday was one of her days off.  We had coffee, sat around and watched the morning news, and generally were pretty lazy.

We had decided to leave about 2:00, but when 1:00 came around, we thought we should get ready.  We had to stop at a store to pick up some batteries for our luggage scale to make sure we didn't have to purchase another bag on the way back (we likely will have to anyhow).

We did stop in Langley to have a late lunch/early dinner.  Dawn looked up "Olive Garden" on the GPS, and there was one in Langley.  We hadn't passed it yet, so got off the freeway and had "GPS Jill" take us there.  Apparently this is the only one in BC.  We had another great lunch.  Love there salad, (the spaghetti wasn't bad either).

Then it was on to the hotel.  The restaurant was right on the #10 Highway, so we just got on the road and followed the directions to the hotel.  It was fairly busy, but nothing like the traffic going the other way.  Arrived at the hotel at about 5:30, and we went to the room.

Not much going on.  We certainly didn't need supper, so basically stayed in the room, read emails, and watched TV.  Strangely enough, we were quite tired (ain't it grand getting old?).  We were having trouble staying awake, so Dawn was in bed to watch the show.  I got in a while later, just to get comfortable.  For some reason, I missed the last 15 or so minutes of the show - don't know what happened.  Then I decided to set the sleep timer on the TV, and that is pretty much all I remember ;-).

Elton John Concert - Sept 14

We sat around and watched football games until it was time to drive into Vancouver.  We left Abbotsford about 4:00, and arrived to the car park (about a block from Rogers Arena) in time to go across the street for dinner at Moxie's.  We've eaten there before so knew it was good (but very loud). The restaurant is on the 2nd floor, and don't you know, the escalator was not working. We had to find the elevator to get upstairs.  Dawn probably could have made it, but we might still be eating dinner ;-).

We had a very nice meal and by the time we were finished, it was time to walk down the street to the arena to get our seats for the show.  The seats were great.  The door we walked in was very close to the section we were sitting (another stroke of luck), and on the same level as our seats (still another stroke of luck).  A quick bathroom visit, and then into our seats.  We were the only ones in our row when we entered, which was great because our seats were about the middle of the row (nice, because it wasn't likely there would be a lot of interruptions with people going out to the bathroom or to get something to eat or drink).  The seats were comfortable enough, but there wasn't a lot of leg room.  Dawn's knee bothered her a bit until we found a comfortable way for her to sit.

 


The show started at 8:00 with an opening act, Bright Light Bright Light; a small band (singer, drums, and keyboards) from Wales.  They were an Independent band who Elton John had elected to use for his show opening band, and they weren't bad.  Their music was a lot alike - they played 5 songs and then got off the stage to have it ready for the main act.

He came on stage after his band, at about 8:30, and started singing.  He was almost non-stop until 11:00.  It was a great show and one we very much enjoyed.  He played many of his oldies, and some of his new ones.  All of them were great.  It was very loud, but the show was spectacular.  The band was very tight, and all of them seemed to be enjoying themselves.  We were sitting in the 3rd level, but very close to the stage.  We sat on the side of the stage where his piano was located, and almost every time he finished a song and bowed (well, he doesn't really bow) to the crowd, it was mostly on our side of the arena.

The place was very loud and appreciative.  He/they did a great job.  We had (for us) fairly expensive tickets, but as Dawn said at the end, "it was worth it".

Getting out of the arena was a bit of a test.  We were close to the gate, but it seemed that most of the people wanted to go out the same gate.  Because there was construction just outside the door, the sidewalk was narrowed and it was VERY congested.  I was concerned that Dawn might be knocked over, but people were very well behaved.

The drive back to Abbotsford was uneventful, and we got in shortly after midnight.  Doug and Stella both had to work in the morning, so it was off to bed.

Getting Ready to Cruise to Hawaii - Sept 13

Well, we are almost ready to leave on our cruise.  Started our trip by travelling to Abbotsford, via Penticton.  Stopped off to see Christie, drop off some of her things, and take her for lunch to celebrate her birthday (which we will be away for, once again).  Had a great visit, and then left to travel the Hope -Princeton Highway to Doug and Stella's place; they are so good to us.  Chris was out from Vancouver and we had a chance to visit with him for a while.  He's a great young man with a wicked sense of humour - quite sarcastic, especially about sports which sits very well with Dawn.  Kelly was home when we arrived, so we visited with her for a while, too.

Went to dinner with Doug and Stella, to a nice Italian restaurant.  Great food.  Dawn and I both had veal parmigiana - very tasty.  We were sure full, after that.

Saturday was uneventful for much of the day.  Chris had to put up with Dawn watching the baseball game.  Kim came home from work not feeling well, so she went to bed.  We used her car to travel into the stadium for the football game.  Because Chris was in Abbotsford, we got to use his parking spot, which was about a block from the stadium entrance.  Had another nice dinner of various appetizers, and again we were full.

Then, it was across the street to watch the game, which in the end, the Lions came away with a victory.  It was a fun game to be at.  When we got back to Abbotsford, it was late, so off to bed we went.

Today, we are sitting around, watching the ball game on TV, waiting for the time to leave for the Elton John show.  It is at Rogers Place, which is right beside BC Place where we were last night.  This time, however, Chris will be home, so we will have to find parking nearby.

March 6 - Leaving Chongqing to go Home

We were up early this morning because it was time to get off the ship and go to the airport to start our trip home.  Our checked bags were ready last night, and had to be outside our door by 10:00.  We were up by 4:30 am to get ready, have breakfast, and check out.

Most of our table group were flying out of Chongqing on the same flight as us, so most were there for our final breakfast.  Ross and Donna had an afternoon flight due to their connections to Saskatoon, while the rest of us flew from Chongqing to Shanghai and on to Vancouver.  We had to board our bus early for the trip to the airport.  It was a sort of sad farewell to everyone, including our wait staff, but it was time to go.  Lisa told us that she would be going with us to Shanghai, and then making sure we got on our plane safely.

Getting off the ship was interesting.  This location was not much different than the other places we had gotten off, but this time, there were people waiting to help us off and up the stairs - for a price ;-).  Lisa, our tour guide, warned us about them, so we were prepared to say, "No!"  This time we were carrying our "carry-on" bags, so it was an interesting disembarkation.  It was another rickety walkway, and then up a ramp.  Then, we had to walk along some planks to get to the cement steps.  They were quite a hike.  Lots of them, and quite steep.  When we got to what we thought was the top, there was a turn, and then another long flight up, before we got to the bus.  I hadn't been that thankful to see a bus for a while.

We boarded the bus and sat, trying to get our breath.  It was quite a long wait because one of our riders had forgotten a bag at the ship, so he and Lisa had to go back down to get it, and then climb back up to return to the bus.  That certainly tired both of them out.

Finally, we were ready to leave, and the bus pulled out.  Chongqing is the largest city in China (about 24 million), but it is more of a city-state, somewhat like Washington, DC.  Even this early in the morning, there was traffic, but it wasn't too bad.  We couldn't see much because it was still dark, but it wasn't much to see anyhow.  The driver was just like all the other bus drivers we had on our tours.  He drove fast, pushed his way in and around cars, and generally was in a hurry.  At one point, I thought the bus was going to have an accident.  It began swaying from side to side, when he was going quite fast, but when he slowed a bit (some people made some remarks about it), the swaying went away.  I thought it must be something with his steering because none of the other vehicles seemed to be swaying like we were (even though they said it was the road causing the swaying).

View of the Fire hall

Once at the airport, they took us to the International Departures terminal.  Lisa said they had checked twice by phone during the night, and that someone had come to the airport in the morning to ensure this was the right place, so we got off the bus to find where to go for our boarding passes.  Lisa had to go to the Domestic Departures terminal, so she left, but Tina, another tour guide for anther table group, stayed with us.  We lined up (it was near the bathrooms, and they smelled really badly), to wait for our turn, but within about 15-20 minutes, Tina came to tell us that we had to go to the Domestic Terminal, so they were bringing a bus back for us.

A Gate at the Terminal

Some of the Planes

Back on the bus, and then a drive to the other terminal, and off the bus again.  We were led to the counter, but the lineup was quite long.  We weren't able to reserve seats, so we ended up sitting quite far away from each other.  In the lineup for our boarding passes, there were 4 Chinese folks behind us, but one of them kept trying to butt-in in front of Dawn in the line-up.  He kept sliding up and to the side, and Dawn kept moving her suitcase in front of him.  The lady in front of Dawn, also kept moving so he couldn't get in.  Finally, Dawn told him "NO!", in quite a cross manner, and he did back off for a while.  In the end, we got our boarding passes before he and his group, but it was something to make us angry.

View of the Fire hall

Then we had to go through security.  They didn't like my shaving cream, so I had to throw it out.  Everything else seemed to be alright, and we moved on to our gate.  It was a fair walk, but we made it.  Lots of people there, waiting to board.  Our plane was a big one - an Airbus A300-200, I think, with about 400 passengers.  It was full, as it turns out.  All of us had assigned seats, but once again, that Chinese fellow was there, and he cut into the line early on.  I guess he really wanted to get to his seat.

Taking Off

Dawn had a window seat next to a Chinese man.  She offered him the window, but he abruptly told her no, so she sat there.  My seat was nearer the back, where it started to bend in a bit.  I was in the middle section, but instead of 4 seats across, there were only 3.  It wasn't too bad, but I could see little of the outside.  Our flight to Shanghai was about 2 hours, so once we were in the air, I tried to sleep a bit, or at least relax.  They did bring around some breakfast, but I didn't find it too appetizing, so didn't eat much of it.

Once in Shanghai, we again walked to our boarding gate.  We had about a 1 1/2 hour wait before out plane was set to leave, so Dawn picked up some gifts from the Duty Free, and we went and sat down.  We were scheduled for seats in different areas, once again, so I went to see if there was any chance to get seats together.  The fellow said he would try, and took our boarding passes (I wasn't too excited about this part because that was our only way to get on the plane).  I stood fairly close to where he was working to get a number of seat changes.  Finally, he brought our passes over.  He had changed them so that we were one in front of the other, which was better than what he had before.

We finally boarded the plane, another Airbus, but his one like the one we flew from Vancouver on.  Our seats were in the middle section, near the back of the plane, so there were only 3 seats across.  I had a seat beside Anne and Frank, while Dawn was right in front of me, with an empty seat, and then Lisa from Abbotsford.  We waited for take-off, hoping that nobody would come to that empty seat, so I could move up beside Dawn.  In the end, no one came, so we assumed that person had missed his/her flight, otherwise we would have likely been assigned that seat to start.

Then, it was off we went to Vancouver, flying for another 10 plus hours.  Without much to do or see, we watched movies, got some sleep, read, and generally sat there.  We were fairly close to the bathrooms at the back of the plane, but there were never any line-ups beside our seats.  There was a kitchen at the back, where the plane staff prepared things and generally worked, and one was able to walk to the other side of the plane to use the bathroom on that side, if the one on our side was busy.  It was also a place where we could stand and walk around a bit, if we were too uncomfortable sitting down.  Needless to say, we were fairly uncomfortable by the time we finally got to Vancouver.

Once we landed, it was on to the next step; going through customs and collecting our bags.  This time, it was nothing like when we returned from Sweden.  Ours was the only plane in at that time, so the line-ups were good, moving us through fairly quickly.  Getting through customs was quick (about 10-15 minutes) and then we had to wait for our bags.  It took a long time, but ours finally showed up, so we put them on a cart, and left to find a bus to our hotel.  It was quite early (for some reason, I wasn't able to figure out the time change for our arrival).  We got in about 8:00 in the morning, while I thought we weren't supposed to be in until after noon.

While busing to the hotel, we decided to see if we could cancel our reservation at the hotel, and go out to Abbotsford to stay with Stella and Doug.  Well, to make a long story short, they allowed us to cancel with no penalty, so we collected our car, put our luggage in the trunk, and drove off.  We got there in the early afternoon.  We had phoned Stella, and she was agreeable to us coming for the night, which was really nice.

Both of us had a tough time staying awake in the afternoon, and I lay down on the bed and slept for a couple hours (I think Dawn slept in her chair in the living room).  We had supper and then sat around talking and watching TV.  Unfortunately, Norman their big old dog, slipped on the floor and broke his leg when coming in from outside.  It was a pretty tough time there for the rest of the day.  Stella phoned Kim and Kelly, and they both came home.  After Kim looked at Norman, she figured it was time, so they phoned the vet who came over after she was finished work, and put him down.  Very sad for everyone, but especially Stella and the kids.

Later that evening, they took him over to Doug's parent's farm, and the next morning, Doug buried him there - he was given a place of "high esteem", where the "well-liked" animals were laid to rest.  This did put a damper on our stay there, but by the morning, most of the tough feelings were done.

Lots of Snow

Snow on the Roof

We left for home about 10:00.  The roads were pretty good, with no new snow having fallen on the Coquihalla for the last couple days.  The signs warned of fog and slushy sections, but we encountered very little, except near the old toll booth area.  There was certainly lots of snow there at that time (much more than when we drove down to the coast to start our trip), but the road was good.

Once we got home, we emptied the car, emptied our bags, and then generally sat down to rest.  Now it's time to start contemplating our next trip.  Who knows where we'll go, but we will certainly go somewhere.  At this point it is sure nice to be  home.

Snow on the Bathroom Roof

Amount of Snow But Clear Roads

Mar. 5 - Shibaozhai Pagoda

We arrived in Shibaozhai sometime during the night, and were docked when we woke up.  It was quite smoky again, so it was difficult to see much, although we could at least see across the river.  Breakfast was as usual, starting at 7:00am today.  Our tour was a walking tour,

Mary - our local guide

with the first market store right beside where we got off the ship.  Then we walked up an incline (like a long boat ramp) where more vendors had set up their stalls.

Our ship as we walked to the town

From there, we walked up the street to the end of the block (again vendors all along the road), turned down the way (again with vendors along the way) and walked for about 2 blocks before turning back toward the river (which of course, took us along another row of vendors).  The main source of income in this small city is from tourism, and the locals would like you to purchase lots of things from them, but at high prices.  We learned to barter on this trip, and after a while didn't feel uncomfortable doing it.  If one vendor didn't want to meet our final price, we could walk to the next one and maybe get the same thing at our price.  If we got too far away, they would come after us, willing to bargain some more.  For the most part, Dawn got good at it.

Pagoda

When we got to the pagoda, we had to walk across a small suspension bridge.  Dawn wasn't happy about going across, and when we got to the first pillar, the walkway got quite shaky, and she was afraid, so we didn't go across.  It was going to be a lot of climbing stairs that were at about a 70 degree angle (said Mary, our local guide), so we didn't feel we were going to be climbing up the stairs anyway, so not a lot was missed.

Lined up at the clinic

In the city, we walked by a kindergarten.  We didn't see the kids, but we could hear them.  I think their classroom was on the second floor of the building, but their play area was on the ground floor where we could see some slides and things for play.  Farther along, we walked by another area where there were lots of kids (they appeared to be about 6-8 years old) playing and waiting with

Kids playing

their parents and grandparents.  We thought this might be a primary school, but when we got to the building, we could see that it was a health unit.  These kids were there to get their immunizations.  Kids are kids, and they found something to play with (a basketball, marbles, go-go-stop, all sorts of things) and were having a good time.  I don't know if these ones knew what was coming, or if they are just tough here.

Go-Go-Stop

On the way back to the ship, we shopped more thoroughly at the stands along the way.  This is where Dawn started getting quite good at the bargaining.  At one booth, there was an artist doing charcoal drawings.  He was doing a scene of the pagoda, and was almost finished.  We took some photos and watched him for a while.  His wife began to work at getting us to purchase one, and when we got her down to 60 Yuan (about $12) we agreed, but we wanted the one he was working on.  We watched him finish the sketch,

Artist

and then he signed it, put down the date, and the name of the city (Shibaozhai), and applied his seal.  We noticed that he did all his work with his right hand, so figured that he had lost a hand, or it didn't work.  We were quite happy with the work, and I shook his hand when we left.

Sister Ship docking beside us

Once back at the ship (after buying a number of t-shirts and wine bottle covers), we went to our cabin.  Another ship (we assumed the sister ship of ours) was approaching.  They pulled up right alongside of us, tied up to us, and sat there.  I guess their passengers were going to get off here, once we left.  We were supposed to be back aboard by 11:00, but we still hadn't left by 11:40.  One of the ships is blowing their horn, so either ours is calling our passengers to return, or we are getting ready to pull out.  I think it will be interesting to see how they move things around.

Antonis - Asst Hotel Manager

After lunch, they provided a short tour of the bridge  Our bus group and another, was scheduled for 2:15 pm, so we arrived at deck 5 at about 2:05. There, the Assistant Hotel Manger, Antonas (a very nice Bulgarian man) was going to take our group.  Gary, the Hotel Manager got the group before us and the one after us.  Antonas was very friendly, had a good, but dry, sense of humour, and we joked a lot.  Dawn asked to drive the ship when we got up to the bridge.  He told her next trip she could.  Notice, he didn't say no, but deflected to another time.  Easily could have been a teacher.

It was interesting in the bridge.  There was only one officer (the 2nd Mate) there.  We all (about 20 of us) squeezed into what is a fairly small area, and Antonas explained what each of the monitors and various buttons and dials meant.  There are 2 GPS systems on the port side of the wheel, and one on the starboard side.  These show the ship's position in the river, and the position of other boats and ships that are traveling towards us and in the same direction as us.  We were going about 11.7 knots upstream.  Another monitor showed the engines (there are 4 of them, but not all get used, all the time) and information about each one.  A final monitor showed the radar picture and the position of the rudder.  There were circles around our ship, each 400m farther away from the ship so they could see how close other ships were and how close to shore they were.

Bridge of the ship

The next station was where the 2nd Mate was manning the wheel.  There were two small wheels that he used to steer the ship.  I believe that Antonis said that one controlled the front rudder, and the other the rear rudder (I believe that the rudder is the direction the propeller is facing).

On the starboard side of the wheel, there was another GPS system, and the depth sonar.  At the time we were there, there was 34 m of water under our keel.  The ship's keel was 2.9 m below the water line, so the depth at that location was about 37 m.  We were fairly close to shore which is why it seemed so shallow.  Farther out from shore, the depth is up to 160 m.

View from the Bridge

Finally there was one more gauge to see.  This one showed the angle that the ship's deck was at, side to side.  At the time we were there, it was zero degrees.  Antonis said that is it got to 20-30 degrees, there might be an announcement to pack up our bags and move to the other side of the ship, or, to just get our life jackets and go to deck 6 for the life boats.  I did say he had a sense of humour.

Greeter to restaurant

This was a very interesting tour.  The officers work 3 shifts, 4 hours on, and then 8 hours off.  The captain wasn't there at that time, but he had to be on the bridge for the important times - docking, leaving, going through the locks, etc.  When the tour was over, we went back to our room and started to organize our suitcases for tomorrow's departure.  There is another sit-down dinner tonight, and after that, we have to get our bags ready to put outside our room in the hallway.  We are the first group flying out of Chongqing tomorrow morning at 9:00, so we imagine we will be up early to depart for the airport.

Chicken feet

The sit-down dinner was another experience.  Some of the dishes were quite good, others, maybe not so much.  Dawn drew the line at chicken feet.  Others said they were alright, but not as good as what they were used to.  We still didn't try them.

It is an interesting way to eat. They only bring a bit at a time, and you eat that dish.  They leave most of what is left on the lazy-susan when they bring another dish, and before long, it is filled with dishes.  This forces one to eat slowly, and it is amazing how full you get, when it doesn't feel like you have eaten very much.

Some of the dishes

This was the big "farewell dinner" so again, the wait staff were dressed up in finer costumes.  We had most of our usual servers, but it seems with this type of meal, that whomever gets the next dish, places it at our table.  We were going to miss these young folks, as well as our table/bus group, so a lot of the time was spent talking among our group and with others we had met on the tour.  When it was time for our farewells (most of us were leaving on the same bus and plane, but Donna and Ross didn't fly out until the afternoon), it was quite sad.  We had met, and become friends with our group, and it was going to be sad to see them go.  Hopefully we will keep in touch.  Neil took a list of everyone's email addresses that he is going to send to each of us.

Our Wait Staff for the Cruise

Sunny

Tang

Carol