October 5 - Shimonoseki, Japan and Typhoon Kong-Rey

Shimonoseki was the last port on our cruise.  We only had about seven hours in port.  The dock is really far out, and the only way to get there is to take a shuttle bus in to the city.  We all got on the same bus, and we were fortunate to all get seats again.  The buses were supposed to leave on a certain schedule, but it seemed our driver wanted to sit there and wait until there was no more room on the bus to even stand.  

When he finally took off, it was about ten minutes late.  It was supposed to only take twenty minutes to get to the first stop, but it was closer to a half hour.  Then it was supposed to take twenty minutes to get to the next stop, but that one only seemed about five minutes.  That part really didn’t bother me.  It was the starting late that did. 

David and I had researched what was available the night before and decided that we wanted to go see the aquarium that was in the Hakata area.  There were also some more shines in the area and the rest all decided to go see them, saying they might go to the aquarium later.  I think we were the only ones to go.  They were giving out discounts to tourists for the aquarium, so it only cost us about $17 US each to get in. 

Because it was October and they were going to celebrate Halloween at the aquarium, what could be more appropriate than to have a sea witch come!  The children loved her!  

Part of the dolphin pre-show.

I call it the vampire fish.

I don't know what this one was.  They had so many cool fish and sea creatures!

Horseshoe crabs.

There were several school groups that were there, ranging in ages from preschool to junior high school ages.  We started to wander, but needed to decide where we were at in the building, and see what the best path would be.  On the list of activities to see, was a dolphin and seal show.  We quickly found the arena, and when we noticed all the backpacks that were already in place, decided it would be best to stake our places now and wait for the show that would start in a half hour.

The pre-show, where they are “warming-up” the dolphins was fun with some huge jumps and flips being performed.  Then as more and more people came in, we were glad that we had decided to stay there and wait.  The show was really fun.  After the show, we wandered the aquarium and saw some amazing fish, plants and animals. 

It was a little after noon when we left the aquarium, so we headed over to the place where we would meet the bus and had lunch at an Indian restaurant.  The nan bread and soup were really good.  We caught a bus shortly after we were done and got back to the ship.  The ship left the dock around 3:30 p.m. 

After dinner, David and I went to the Broadway style show that was planned for the entertainment that evening.  The others of our group had all planned to go, but not until the 9:15 p.m. showing. I didn’t think I would be awake to stay up for the later show, so we went to the 7:30 p.m. show.  Both of us left the theater in tears because the theme of the production hit a little too close to home with David’s cancer.  A young couple falls in love, has two kids, but then she falls sick and dies.  It is mainly about what he goes through after she dies.

David had been tracking a super typhoon that had been named Kong-Rey.  It was on a collision course with our ship’s path!  We didn’t know what the ship’s plan was, but it turned out that we were trying to cross the strait ahead of it.  Fortunately, it had been downgraded from a category 5 to a 3 and then to a category 1, so it wasn’t as bad as it could have been, but I don’t want to know what a stronger storm would be like!

We didn’t get a lot of sleep.  The ship was rocking and rolling quite a lot.  We didn’t dare leave the room.  At times, we were afraid that we might be knocked out of bed, but it didn’t happen.  It was difficult to move around the cabin.  It would seem to be moving in one direction, and then all of a sudden change to another.  And it wasn’t just back and forth, it was sideways, diagonal and back and forth!  We were a little worried but decided to have faith instead. 

When the morning came, we were still afloat, even though we were still rocking and rolling all over the place.  When it came time for breakfast, we carefully made our way down to the restaurant.  It was a little better lower in the ship.  We spent the morning assuring our family that all was well, and that the sky was beginning to have patches of blue.  We talked to someone at the service desk and learned that at one point we were only 70 miles away from the eye of the typhoon!  We have enjoyed this last day of the cruise to just relax.

One of the premier shows on the cruise was one called, "Pixels." They had music, dancing and a fantastic light show that went with it.  The only night we could get tickets for was Saturday night because it was so popular.  

Sunday morning, we packed and waited for our time to leave the cruise ship. They had a special line for foreign nationals to leave in, and we made it through fairly quickly.  Our bus driver found us and drove us all back to the other BYU teacher’s apartment building.  We visited with Neils and Jolene Thompson while the Holt’s got the Thunnel’s situated in their hotel room.  Then we met them at their apartment in time for them to get us a taxi back to the train station. 

As we entered the Holt’s apartment, they found their electricity had been turned off while they were gone, so all the food, including a lot of meat, that was in their refrigerator was spoiled.  It’s so sad, but happens often in China. 

We made it to our train and got a taxi back to our apartment.  Safe at home.  It was a lovely trip!

The only train tickets available for our trip back to Jinan were in the business class car.  this is what it looks like.  The seats recline so that you can sleep in it (if you are small like most Chinese).  They bring you a bottle of water and a small bag of snacks.  Of course, we had to pay extra for the tickets, but we didn't want to be getting back to Jinan at 10:30 and try to get up for our early trip to the Qianfoshan campus the next morning.