Day at Sea on route to Beijing

Saturday, April 18

When we woke up this morning and looked out our window it was very foggy, so much so we couldn't even see the water, and we're only on deck 2! It wasn't until the captain made an announcement that after leaving Shanghai we only made it to the large container port an hour or two down the river before the authorities ordered all shipping to stop due to the fog! So we had been anchored most of the night and not even realized it - luckily the fog lifted enough about 10am for us to continue into the Yangtze River delta (which is massive) before reaching the sea and heading north towards Xingang, the port for Beijing.

With all the days at sea on this cruise we have got into a nice routine of sleeping in, attending the On Location talk (today's was on our next stop in Beijing), having lunch, and attending some of the talks or activities in the afternoon. Today we went to a talk on the art of flower arranging, and the on board florist made this magnificent display in only 15 minutes!

The band was performing around the mid-ships pool after lunch, and while listening to them and enjoying some sunshine, there was a also a golf chipping challenge. A couple of people won a drink for hitting the dolphins at the end of the pool, but I'll have to practice my golf before the next cruise as my three balls went left, right then too short!

Dolphin sculpture target for the golf chipping challenge

 

We booked into the Italian restaurant Canaletto for dinner to celebrate my birthday and enjoyed a wonderful meal there. It was nice having Italian food for a change after all the Asian food and dining room meals we've consumed over the last 3 weeks. We left feeling very full and went to the show, which was a juggling act performed by an American called Michael Menes. We had seen him last year and he was very good, although the ship was rocking a bit so he dropped his balls a couple of times!

Following that was a short show called "Call my Bluff" and this was very amusing. We didn't want to go to bed on a full stomach so we went and saw the 10pm movie called "The Grand Budapest Hotel" - a whimsical movie and a good one to see before enjoying another lovely night's sleep at sea.

 

 

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