Asia Day

Tuesday January 8th



I was sleeping a drug induced sleep until about 4.30 am this morning (5.30 real time we had just added an hour), no sign of George, hmm? I discover him in the bathroom sitting on top of the toilet, lid down, doing Sudoko! We try desperately hard not to wake each other but this is perhaps taking the unwritten rule too far?



'What do you think....is it better?' I asked hopefully, lurching towards the bed 'I... don't honestly know....' shudder, shudder, bump....'perhaps not?'....nice smooooth sailing for five minutes or so 'Hey, it's better!' I say....sudden huge roll.....'No Perhaps not.'



This continues until about 6 am but a little later it really does improve and the whole ship heaves a mass sigh of relief. We are all so sick of staggering around, balancing our bodies and our plates of food....this has seemed to go on for days.



It's amazing how quickly one forgets the unease and frustration of the last few days. As I told you today was Asia day and we celebrated with seminars and discussions in all the classrooms. The best was undoubtedly the team work and resulting 'production' from our six or seven Chinese students. They were delightful; we had an artist who in a few minutes produced a painting of Chinese peonies which would have graced any room and cost in the region of $150.00 in an art store. Then a demonstration of Kung Fu by a slip of a girl and Beijing opera arias sung by another. These students are striking to look at anyway but in their Cheongsams (or Qipaos) they were stunning. The male students looked debonaire in dark suits and white shirts and MC'd the proceedings. One of our on board family is Mengneng Ma. She comes from Shanghai, is absolutely at ease with everyone and has none of the shyness exhibited by the other women. She is in George's class and literally slid on to a chair at our breakfast table the other day, introduced herself to me with an enormous smile and proceeded to chat away with us as if we'd been family for years. She impishly introduced me to one of her friends as her Mum later!

It isn't only the Chinese students who have made an impression on this trip, the Americans too seem a truly responsible and fun crowd and there is apparently a huge fund of talent among them as I was told by a witness to their coffee bar performances a few nights ago. During the really awful (and frightening) weather they have been wonderfully 'normal' and are obviously enjoying each other's company. Some though are choosing to do their explorations of Japan solo which I think is brave and impressive. They are all terribly excited about going ashore.

George is sound asleep so had better get to bed. We want to be up at 6 am to watch our entry into Yokohama which we remember from last year.....we sail almost into the city and have a beautiful view. We have been told that the gangway will be on the port side so we shall be able to enjoy it from our patio. Wish you were here!