Yokohama is a great little city - I had several meals of the finest sushi I've had in a very long time. Strangely, a spinach and sesame salad laura and I are fond of (we call it "gomei," spelling notwithstanding) only drew puzzled looks when I asked for it. Unagi, miso, sashimi, etc. were easily understood by the Japanese-only speaking wait staffs, but the salad was a strike-out.
I visited a 1930 steel ship museum, the training ship "Nippon Maru" - a 97 meter, 4-masted, 2,278 ton sailing ship boasting 29 sails - because of course I did. It cost 600 yen (about $5). And I rode a roller coaster that runs its circuitous route around the enormous ferris wheel in the center of the city, also because it was there. And it was only 700 yen (about $6). I had thousands of yen in my pocket and one day to spend them all!
My favorite part of Yokohama was Chinatown (surprise). It was, by far, the world's cleanest Chinatown I've encountered to date! Cleaner than even Singapore- and not a whiff of durian fruit anywhere.
Our next port of call after Yoko was Pusan, South Korea. Due to Korean efficiency, we were there eight hours- we came in after dinner and cast off before breakfast. Blink and you miss it.
We shoved off and crossed the fishing boat infested South China Sea for Qingdao- the port where we empty the ships dumpsters, by hand, into cargo nets which we offload by crane. Unlike on my last ship, we did not unload onto the dock but onto a barge on the offshore side- the same bunker barge that was fueling the ship. Bunker barges are usually pristine, well-loved boats that that make us big behemoths look shabby. Not this one! I'm sure someone, somewhere, was getting a deal...
I can't imagine who thought it was a good idea to swing crane loads next to a fuel manifold, particularly the one at the bottom of a hose-fall, except someone with a finger in the pie.
From there we drove south, skipping every exit and truck stop along the way, in bumper to bumper traffic until our exit - Interstate Shanghai. I had first wheel (at midnight)... and this ship drives good... real good! Two watches on the wheel and one on the bow brought this rig alongside in time for breakfast.
I was hoping for some overtime, but the Standards of Training, Certification, and Watchstanding (STCW in our shorthand) dictates I had worked enough and it was time for me to sleep... so I did. I failed to put on an alarm, thinking I'd wake up in a few short hours... boy howdy! Was I mistaken! I woke up 16 hours later, just in time to depart!
So here I am, just after transiting the Yangtze twice in two days, awake and wired for sound after my normal 1st 4-hour sleep of the day should be almost finished. Hopefully the post-lunch, dullness-of-company, and boredom of watchstanding will wear me down and my 2nd 4-hour sleep of the day will see me counting sheep... because if not then I'm going to be unhappy at midnight tonight when I spend 4 more hours with my watch partners.
We're on a two man watch until we shoot the Strait of Korea, after "Pusan! Take 2!" and that puts me on watch with both of the ship's septuagenarians- both of whom are contrarian by nature. I find that I dislike a conversational menu that offers 10 flavors of "Nuh-uh..." I find it to be as frustrating as bargaining with a 2 year old.
So my mind wanders and I don't speak outside the bridgework except in monosyllables.
Which suits me just fine. I'm only counting down in my head, anyway... everything I had to say was said before I half crossed the Pacific on the way over.
I visited a 1930 steel ship museum, the training ship "Nippon Maru" - a 97 meter, 4-masted, 2,278 ton sailing ship boasting 29 sails - because of course I did. It cost 600 yen (about $5). And I rode a roller coaster that runs its circuitous route around the enormous ferris wheel in the center of the city, also because it was there. And it was only 700 yen (about $6). I had thousands of yen in my pocket and one day to spend them all!
My favorite part of Yokohama was Chinatown (surprise). It was, by far, the world's cleanest Chinatown I've encountered to date! Cleaner than even Singapore- and not a whiff of durian fruit anywhere.
Our next port of call after Yoko was Pusan, South Korea. Due to Korean efficiency, we were there eight hours- we came in after dinner and cast off before breakfast. Blink and you miss it.
We shoved off and crossed the fishing boat infested South China Sea for Qingdao- the port where we empty the ships dumpsters, by hand, into cargo nets which we offload by crane. Unlike on my last ship, we did not unload onto the dock but onto a barge on the offshore side- the same bunker barge that was fueling the ship. Bunker barges are usually pristine, well-loved boats that that make us big behemoths look shabby. Not this one! I'm sure someone, somewhere, was getting a deal...
I can't imagine who thought it was a good idea to swing crane loads next to a fuel manifold, particularly the one at the bottom of a hose-fall, except someone with a finger in the pie.
From there we drove south, skipping every exit and truck stop along the way, in bumper to bumper traffic until our exit - Interstate Shanghai. I had first wheel (at midnight)... and this ship drives good... real good! Two watches on the wheel and one on the bow brought this rig alongside in time for breakfast.
I was hoping for some overtime, but the Standards of Training, Certification, and Watchstanding (STCW in our shorthand) dictates I had worked enough and it was time for me to sleep... so I did. I failed to put on an alarm, thinking I'd wake up in a few short hours... boy howdy! Was I mistaken! I woke up 16 hours later, just in time to depart!
So here I am, just after transiting the Yangtze twice in two days, awake and wired for sound after my normal 1st 4-hour sleep of the day should be almost finished. Hopefully the post-lunch, dullness-of-company, and boredom of watchstanding will wear me down and my 2nd 4-hour sleep of the day will see me counting sheep... because if not then I'm going to be unhappy at midnight tonight when I spend 4 more hours with my watch partners.
We're on a two man watch until we shoot the Strait of Korea, after "Pusan! Take 2!" and that puts me on watch with both of the ship's septuagenarians- both of whom are contrarian by nature. I find that I dislike a conversational menu that offers 10 flavors of "Nuh-uh..." I find it to be as frustrating as bargaining with a 2 year old.
So my mind wanders and I don't speak outside the bridgework except in monosyllables.
Which suits me just fine. I'm only counting down in my head, anyway... everything I had to say was said before I half crossed the Pacific on the way over.
I detect a whiff of sailor wanting to be ashore in his home port now. And I'm sure when you're back eating that great salad in Seattle you'll ask the actual name of it for when you go adventuring again in the Orient. Safe journey home, Sinbad.
ReplyDeleteExactly how many 2 year olds have you bargained with?
ReplyDelete