Markets

I have visited plenty of markets in my journey throughout Asia. From Borneo, at the equator, to Hong Kong with its technology, to mainland China, I've seen quite a range of selling locations. Here's a glimpse...

A stall in a marketplace in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia.

A mall in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia.

A dried seafood display in Kota Kinabalu.

A view down a street off the main shopping avenue in Hong Kong.

A pedestrian-only shopping street in Shanghai.

The end of the line at an indoor market in Tanggu, near Tianjin, the nearest port to Beijing.

An indoor market in Tanggu. All trash went on the floor, where it was later swept up.

A small selection of the goods for sale at an outdoor market stall in Tanggu.

Overnights Galore

We had three overnight stays in ports in ten days. Overnights are excellent opportunities to get to know a place.

It’s been months since I’ve been on land after dark. Night time is no longer a phenomenon in my world. Once the sky is dark, I draw the curtains, and think no more about the outside world. I work in a theater, which is a big dark room. I see sunshine as I walk to and from my cabin, but when it’s dark, I don’t really notice the windows. I get outside in ports during the day, then go back to the artificial lighting of the ship for night time.

Overnights shake you out of that rut. They’re an opportunity to experience a place’s night life, a chance to get off and go to a real bar, or go to a real restaurant for dinner. A chance to not run a show every single night of your life.

We overnighted in Hong Kong, Shanghai and the closest port to Beijing, Tanggu (Tianjin’s port). I mostly took advantage of being in the same place for two days running. There are always things to do on the ship and shows to run, although I tried to delegate. I got off the ship in Tanggu at night, but in Hong Kong, I stayed mostly in the mall, and in Shanghai I caught up on sleep. It was nice to have internet available in the terminal. Lots of crew went there at all hours of the night to talk with relatives and friends from home.

A Change of Itinerary

With the recent disasters in Japan, we will unfortunately not be making it to that country. Japan is the anchor destination of this cruise. It’s billed as the “cherry blossom cruise” so that passengers can go to epic Japan and witness the spring-time blooming of the legendary cherry blossoms.

Oooh, this will be easy to tell them…

Diving in Brunei

Today we docked in Brunei’s capital of Bandar Seri Begawan, at the port of Muara.

The ship’s company was very excited, since the Crown Prince of Brunei was visiting the ship, to highlight cruise ship trade to Brunei.

A group of crew all headed out to go diving. We were picked up at the port, and driven a short distance to the dive shop. We didn’t get to see much of the land side of Brunei—only enough to see that they drove on the left. Note to self: don’t get killed when crossing the street.

Once we were at the shop, it was all suiting up, signing forms and get in the van. Off to the boat ramp, to launch the dive boat. A half-hour boat ride brought us to our first dive site, Rig Reef.

It was a submerged series of metal trussing and structures, looking like the bones of an oil rig. I saw tons of fish that I’ve never seen before. There were all sorts of soft coral that doesn’t live in the western hemisphere. With my underwater species identification limited to Hawaiian and Caribbean waters, this excursion definitely broadened my horizons.

We also saw the biggest fish I’ve ever seen. It was about 6’ long, and very angry looking. According to its face, it had a very bad attitude. But it wasn’t interested in us. It was a huge grouper, complete with a ramora on the side.

The next reef was a shallower reef with low visibility. It was almost all soft coral, with huge fans and tons of small sights to stop and see.

Overall, it was a great day of diving, to expand my diving horizons. The water was murky, due to recent rains, and a bit on the colder side (especially for being at the equator), but it was definitely worth it.

Sydney, Australia

My flight details took me straight from LA to Sydney, on an overnight flight that lasted two dates (my first trip across the date line). That left me missing a day and five hours. Like the trip from Europe to America, only with a time warp.

Which put me in Sydney a full day before I was scheduled to embark.


I got in at 6am, which was 11am in LA (or 9am in Hawaii, since I wasn't consistently on any one time zone). By the time I got to the hotel and got my room sorted, it was 9am, and I was ready to go. I threw my bags in my room, got my bearings, and headed into the city.

I did a free walking tour of Sydney, which was fantastic and well worth the price. That left me time to check out the rest of Sydney all afternoon. I met up with some other Princess crew members (half of the band that I had worked with on the Golden), and we walked through the city. We ended up at the aquarium and wildlife park, and decided to shell out the money and go in.


I love zoos and aquariums for their opportunities to see cool things. But I would of course much rather see all those animals in their natural environment. All in time, I suppose. For now, SHARKS!


Then it was back to the hotel to eat then sleep (8pm is a perfectly legitimate bedtime, despite it still being light outside).

Boarding is 7am the next day, bright and early, then the adventure on the Sun Princess begins.

New Adventures

A few weeks ago, I heard that Princess was looking for someone to fill in as Senior Production Manager on one of their smaller ships. A couple weeks ago, my supervisor told me he was putting my name in for the job. A week ago, I heard that head office was going to offer me the job. Now I’m in the airport, headed to Sydney, Australia.

I’m going to be the senior production manager on the Sun Princess, one of three ‘smaller’ ships of the Sun Class in the Princess Fleet. Small means 1900 passengers, 800 crew, 14 decks and two theaters. I’ll be the head of the production department, responsible for the technical support of all entertainment onboard.

I’m joining in Sydney after its final New Zealand run. Unfortunately, I will not be going to New Zealand, although I had always wanted to visit. I will, however, be going to China, Japan, Southeast Asia, the east, west and north of Australia, and, potentially, India and Africa if I stay long enough.

This is why I signed up for cruising.