TUESDAY 7TH FEBRUARY 2006

We spent the night tossing and turning due the swell, and when it was time to go for breakfast, we both said that we could have done with another hour or six in bed as we didn’t really get much sleep during the night. We will fix that soon, a nice king size bed in a posh hotel waits, just not sure when or for how long. Don’t get the wrong impression here though, whilst we do only have single beds in our cabin, they are reasonably comfortable. Actually, if it was a bit rough or there was some swell rolling the ship, it would be quite difficult to sleep in a double bed together.

At breakfast, the latest gossip was for a 3.30pm pick up of Pilot, thus arriving to berth at 8pm. We didn’t do much during the morning, just read and relaxed. After lunch, we headed to the Bridge, as we had got under way at around 1.30pm, and we thought we might be up there to watch the Pilot board when we reached the pilot station around an hour to an hour and a half later. We were now getting into much calmer waters, and the sun was shining all be it through a fairly thick fog. The Pilot boarded at around 2.45pm, and we decided to stay where we were and observe our entrance to the Yangtze River from the Bridge. It was a slow trip in, and we joined a line of probably 10 or more ships, all with Pilots, heading into port. The Pilot told the Captain that as it was so busy, we may have to anchor in the Yangtze for an hour, as a ship was still in our berth. I suppose we could have guessed that all was going to well to think that it would continue and have us arriving ahead of the Plan C schedule. We anchored in one of the inner anchorages around 5.30pm. There are lots of anchorages once inside the delta of the river and our Captain told us they can accommodate 1000 vessels of various sizes here. We headed down to our cabin for a coldie, and wondered if we would ever get into Shanghai tonight at this rate. Dinner was followed by another Bridge visit, and we weighed anchor around 7.15pm for the final section of the journey to our berth. To see how they handle a ship of this size in a river crowded with craft of all shapes and sizes, is inspiring to say the least. Whilst all vessels have certain requirements in respect to lighting at night, and direction of travel, passing etc, it seems that Chinese logic may some times not quite be in sync with the rest of the maritime world. They came at us in all manner of craft, some legally lit, and others not so legally lit. They came from the stern, the bow, port and starboard. It was terrific to watch. You have to appreciate that this vessel is 193 meters long 28 meters wide and somewhere around 35,000 tonnes at present, and you just don’t turn or stop in an instant. Despite our massive presence, the smallest of fishing boats still expect to head wherever, whenever they felt like it, and the sharp eyes of the Pilot, Captain, First and Third Officers, Able Bodied Seaman, and of course…….. Judy and Doug ensured we made it to our berth by 9.00pm.

We had no sooner arrived than the ants arrived as well. There must have been 30 Stevedores, a Supercargo (the guy who says what goes where), a Ships Agent, and an Immigration Officer charging up the gang way. While this is happening, 2 huge barges loaded with cargo tie up on the port side and trucks and dollies full of other pieces of cargo lined the wharf under our cranes. The logistics of these operations is superb. They converge on the ship as if there is no tomorrow, and when they start, it appears they are right.

We watched for a while, and then headed off to bed. No chance of a deep sleep tonight though, too much noise and way too much to look at out of our window.


WEDNESDAY 8TH FEBRUARY 2006

As predicted, very little sleep, but it doesn’t seem to cause us too much grief, it is so interesting to see, and that’s why we came on this voyage. Anyone can be conventional and go on a cruise ship, we wanted to be different and see the sea from a seaman’s perspective. It is awesome, but I guess it’s not the same view as the crew gets really, they have to work!

At breakfast we are told we have shore leave until 4pm tomorrow, so we are heading for a hotel in the city centre again. We agreed to meet Cam in the ships office at 10am, and we will share a taxi from the wharf to town. As we had now decided to stay at the Marriot Hotel, and Cam wanted to go to the Peoples Square right next to the hotel, we headed straight for there. Cam went to the concierge to get some tourist info, and then headed off on his own. Judy and I had to go to the 38th level to book in, and then we were given a room on the 54th floor. You can just imagine the view! Shanghai is a large city of 6,341 sq kms, and has a population of around 20,000,000 people. High rise is the operative word here, with over 2,000 building over 20 floors or more in height. To see it from the 54th floor of a building gives a whole new meaning to urban sprawl. We settled in, and I had a coldie while I caught up on the world news on CNN. Well USA news really, but it was something at least. Judy headed for the Business Centre to open up the latest work emails, as well as download the latest entries for this blogger. She found time to see the Concierge whilst there and now I find out we are going to the circus tonight. Chinese acrobats are a breed of their own. No nets and death defying feats are the norm, so we are looking forward to this evening’s performance.

We filled in the rest of the day wandering some of the streets of the city we hadn’t been in before. We came across the former residence of Sun Yat-sen, the original leader of the Nationalist Party in China. Cracked it in time for a guided tour and this included an insight into his life and times in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, well worth the visit. We walked down a variety of back streets and found areas where all of the shops are devoted to the one theme. We found what we named, “Pajama Street”, and it’s not hard to work out what they sold. We found “Music Street”, and it was full of shops selling instruments, and more pianos than we have seen in total in our lives. We found “Hang the weeks meat out the window street”, and I suppose the refrigerator salesman hasn’t made it there yet. Have to add, the temperature would be warmer in a fridge anyway, it was -2ºC outside in the street. All in all, Shanghai is a delightful place to visit (8 times now!), and anyone who feels they would like a gander at China would be well advised to start here. It is not as much a culture shock as you will experience in other cities and towns, but be warned, it aint OZ that’s for sure!

We decided against dinner, and headed off in a taxi for the circus at 6.45pm. We were lucky enough to be able to obtain VIP seats, right in the middle and 4 rows from the arena. Absolutely perfect viewing and well worth the money. As I said earlier, Chinese Acrobats are a cut above the rest, and these people were absolutely superb. Never have we seen anything that even comes close to this performance, and we have seen plenty over the years. Death defying is an understatement; impossible would be a better description. The performance was in a large building obviously made for circus style performances. The seats were plush, the place was heated, and the lighting and effects that went with the whole shebang made for a really enjoyable evening. The show was called ERA Intersection of time, and depicted the past, present and future. It was sponsored by the USA to the tune of US$10,000,000, and I would think it will tour the world. A word of advice, DON’T miss it!

Back to the hotel, and a room service dinner was the order of the night. Then sleep beckoned, but no way could we shut the view out, the city lights were like fairyland and just the tonic to nod off too.


THURSDAY 9TH FEBRUARY 2006

After a late start and no breaky (too much room service last night), we checked out about 11am and headed off for a stroll again. It wasn’t as cold as yesterday, probably around 3ºC, so it was quite enjoyable walking in the sun. We went looking for a market we had read about, and knew it was about 1½k away. I had orientated my street map with the view from the 54th floor before we left the hotel, so I thought I might have had a surprise up my sleeve for Judy if what I got a glimpse from up there proved to be correct. From the height of our room, I had nutted out a meandering track to follow over to the area that we knew the market was in. As we left the hotel, we turned directly away from the populated areas of the city, and followed a winding street into an old housing area. It was terrific, well terrific if you don’t mind being the only westerners in an area that obviously rarely sees people like us. As we walked, we got the once over by all and sundry, but we've been in this situation before and we just trundled off amongst the locals soaking up their lifestyle as we went. One of the streets was obviously “Pet Shop Street” and that was a sight to behold. I have to say, there are not a lot of mammals for sale in these areas, and I will leave it to your imagination to work out why. There were lots of small birds and fish for sale, together with the accessories that go with this style of pets. Great to see.

We then went to Haagen-Dazs ice-cream shop and had a romantic Valentines Day ice cream fondue, together with heart shaped ice-creams, cakes and fruit. I know it is early, but we will be at sea on the 14th, so the romantic bit had to happen when we could enjoy it. We found the market a little later, and was this a culture shock! We have been in all sorts of markets in all sorts of places, but this was the pushiest of all time. There were touts trying to get us to go with them for bargains. There were stall holders grabbing at our arms and clothes to get our attention directed their way. There were police and security all over the place and signs warning of touts and pick pockets. And there were PA announcements blaring out warnings of the crime in the area. It was terrific! I have to admit, Judy did chastise me for loosing my cool early in the piece when I suggested to a group of touts that they might like to go and fornicate amongst themselves (which I think they did as I didn’t get any more angst from them). We didn’t feel threatened really, the only problem I perceived was that I had a back pack on, a camera and mobile phone in my pocket, and a money belt around my neck, and it was a little off pitting trying to ensure all of these things stayed on my person while we pushed our way through the crowd. Once we got into the swing of the shopping, all thoughts of theft disappeared; it was us doing the thieving! We bargained like never before, and some of the prices we paid were criminal. It’s all part of the game.

We had our fill of the market, and caught a taxi back to the ship. This time we were armed with very precise directions in very clear Chinese writing. We even had a hand drawn map also with Chinese characters on it, so our driver got us back in record time.

The ship had been turned around in our absence as our 2 large cranes (320 tonne SWL each) were needed for some heavy lifts from the wharf side. This was after they were needed to unload the barges that pulled along side 2 nights before. We were welcomed back, as usual, by one of the AB’s standing guard at the head of the gangway. We then headed to our cabin to unpack and grab a coffee, but I knew I wouldn’t be there for long, there was some supervision required up on E Deck, what with all of these cargo movements going on, they must need me.

I marched from side to side for over 2 hours, and not a piece of equipment or packing crate got on board without me passing my eye over it. My curiosity never ceases to wane there is so much going on boredom is not an option for me. Judy came up later, she had been having a nap, but when she felt my arms and face, almost blue with cold by now, my work period was quickly terminated. Still, you can check things out through the cabin windows, so if anything is amiss on deck, I will notice it pretty quick and get it sorted.

After dinner we watched our nightly movie, but not before I had my weekly Thursday night dose of “American Chopper”. Only one episode left to watch, so withdrawal symptoms until we get to the USA and I can stock up.

Bed followed, but restless night again with all the cargo loading noise and curiosity forcing me to get out of bed for a look see too many times.


FRIDAY 10TH FEBRUARY 2006

Not a bad night’s sleep, with just a few noises as some of the heavier pieces of cargo hit the deck. Of course, one of the cranes (100 tonne SWL) is tied up into a cradle about 3 metres from my head, so when it went thump into its spot, I was woken up. It was about 6am, so I just dozed until I thought it time to wake Judy for breaky.

We were told that the Pilot was due at 8am, and we would be on our way to Quingdao, some 360 miles away, shortly after. Arrival was expected to be about 8am Saturday. Straight after we ate, we headed for the Bridge to observe the traffic (and near misses, one oh so close!) as we headed down stream in the Huangpu River, and then out into the Yangtze and its delta. The Pilot jumped ship around 12.45pm, and we were off and running at a great rate of knots. Dead flat seas, hardly any wind, and even a touch of sunshine. It was time for our walk, so both of us put on a light coat and headed around the deck. Bad move, it may have been alright inside, but after 15 minutes on deck, it was freezing. Judy headed back to our cabin, but I had to walk some of the food off, and spent another 50minutes trundling around the main deck. I gave up due to the cold, so the rest of the arvo was spent reading and dozing. I was at the computer when the cabin telephone rang, and it was the 3rd Officer, Ferdinand calling to tell me there would be a life boat alarm soon, but to ignore it, as it only concerned the crew. I couldn’t resist the opportunity to get a few photos of the crew at the muster station, so I took the camera to E Deck to see if I could capture some good shots. Well I scored, and it was a crack up! I was 3 decks and directly above the muster station and I had a bird’s eye view of ensuing proceedings. After all of the crew (all except the Captain, Chief Engineer and an AB on the Bridge) were accounted for, the Chief Officer went to each of them and checked that they had a light on their life jacket, and that it was capable of being operational. One of the Oilers decided to play with his light, and sure enough, it came on. He was terrified as this was not supposed to happen until the jacket came into contact with water, so just how he did activate it remains a mystery at this stage. Well he immediately put his hand over the light which is about breast height when the jacket is done up correctly. He was not going to let the Chief or for that matter, anyone, become aware of his predicament. For the next 25 minutes that I was able to see him from above, he did not remove his hand from his chest other than to have a sheltered peak to see if it was still flashing. He tried to mask his stuff up by crossing both hands across his chest for a while, but just imagine how uncomfortable that not only would be, but uncomfortable looking it was as well. The poor bloke was right in the Chiefs line of sight as they discussed and demonstrated the operation of the small davit that launched the other life boat, and there was no way he could remove his hands to help with the launching procedure demo. I spoke to the Steward after dinner, and asked him who the fellow was that stood in spot number 20 during drills, as whilst I knew it was an Oiler; I didn’t know which one as he was so heavily disguised by jackets, coveralls and a helmet. Freddie knew what I was onto straight away, and we laughed and laughed about the poor buggers troubles. Freddie had picked it up during the drill, and let him suffer all the way. I will find out about how it was activated, and also the outcome, in due course.

I followed the photo shoot with a 45minute curiosity trip to the Bridge, and I spent the entire time with the captain as his captive audience. Maybe I should have said he was my captive audience, as I knew I had him on my terms, and I knew he loved to tell me about all of the workings and goings on, on his ship if prompted, and I was prompting. I stayed until dark at 6pm, and I am sure I will be back for another dose tomorrow, he is such an informative and likable guy, and I really enjoy my time with him.

After dinner it was the usual movie, then off to bed in smooth sailing conditions. Smooth that is, if you discount the constant rattles and vibration caused by the engine, but that’s freighter travel I suppose.


SATURDAY 11TH FEBRUARY, 2006

We woke up when the ship stopped to anchor at about 6.30am. The sudden change from vibration to the max to complete calm, works better than an alarm clock. It was too early to go down for breaky, so we dozed until 7.30am. At breakfast we were told that the ship had been cleared for a direct entry to our berth, Plan A, and as such we had increased speed to meet the Pilot. Not long after, another call came through to say we now had to anchor for about an hour. By the time the second call came through the ship had passed the designated anchorage and then had to slow to almost a complete stop and execute a 180º turn to get back to the correct anchorage, and wait until around 8am for the Pilot. Plan B was now in force, but there was not a lot of confidence in it being the final state of the game. Well Plan B lasted until the preset time of 8am, and then things looked good for Plan C, wait until we got a call from the Pilot.

We just lolled about until 11am, and then both Judy and I had a walk around the deck to see if all was well. It was one of those walks of discovery, and we poked our heads into every space we could, wanting to see what had changed from our last gander, or just to see what was supposed to go on that space. We headed back to the superstructure and poked our heads into the ships office to see what the chief Officer was up too, and then we went into the crew Recreation Room to check it out. The Captain caught us poking around in the rec room, and it wasn’t long before he had engaged us in conversation again. We got the whole story of how the previous crew had removed most of the tables in the room so as to give themselves more space. They had a dartboard, table tennis table, large TV and DVD player, a massive Karaoke player hooked into equally massive speakers, a guitar and a key board. They sure had enough to keep themselves occupied, but I guess after a tour of duty lasting 9 months, even this room and its contents would get pretty boring. It was now midday, so off to A Deck for lunch, once again tasty and filling. Well I thought so, but Judy reneged on the squid again and made do with cold meat, salad and potatoes.

During lunch the Captain told us we were going to stay at anchor until the fog lifted a little, and then the Pilot would board and we would be on our way to port. Plan C looking a little shaky as the fog was pretty thick still. After lunch I had a snooze, and then at about 3pm, I headed of for a few laps of the deck. It was not as cold as we had been experiencing for the last few weeks, so I was really enjoying the fresh air. I had the deck to myself for an hour, and then two of the OS (Ordinary Seamen) started a bit of a sweep and clean up on the starboard side. I stopped and chatted to them for about 10 minutes, and found out about their thoughts on being at sea, and how much they missed their respective families. They both told me that the money they made at sea, whilst exceptionally good when compared to what they could make at home, just didn’t seem to go as far as it used too. The prices had risen dramatically in their country, but their wages had changed very little in the last few years. I got the feeling that they were being exploited, but had little choice to change their situation now that they were on the ships. If, they could get work ashore, they certainly couldn't exist on the wages they would get, as their lifestyles had changed dramatically since being at sea. I was told that from early teens, they all yearned to go to sea, to see the world, and make big bucks. Now married with families; the glamour had gone along with the big bucks. One of the guys put it all in perspective when he said, “my companion here, and I, spend 9 months together on this ship, but when we go home to our families we get 2 – 3 months at best with them” I guess each to their own, but it does seem harsh when the wages now don’t seem to compensate for the disadvantages that go with the life of a seaman.

Well by the time I had done a few more laps, the fog seemed to be getting thicker, so Plan C was certainly now looking real shaky. Dinner came around (6pm), and just as we sat down to a feed of so called, Australian Fish (cod done in the oven with peppers, butter, onion and white wine) with Bok Choy Au Gratin and boiled spuds, we felt the stirrings of the engine, and we were up anchor and away. Plan D was in force, stuff the fog lets go into port anyway! The Pilot came on board about 20 minutes later and we knew this was the plan we should have been on from the start. We finished dinner and headed for the Bridge just in time to see the ship pull alongside our berth. Only 1 tug this time, and we were using our bow thrusters to assist in docking. We watched until we were tied up to the bollards, then we headed to our abode for the night. Not for long though, curiosity got the better of me, and I donned the thin coat and headed for the outside E Deck. I wanted to check out the antics of the Chinese on the wharf, and have a bit of a look see at the surrounds. There was this white stuff on the ground near all the stacks of cargo on the wharf, and when I started to shiver and shake I put 2 & 2 together and realized snow does make it too cold to stay outside for long!

It was a quiet night as the stevedores did not do any loading or unloading for some reason. Our crew prepared all of our cranes for them, and then nothing else happened.

Sleep………….