I GOT MAIL!

Hey hey hey! I got 3 comments! This is because Stacey, a friend on the ship, wrote about me in her blog when she found me. Other people took her advice and read my random musings! Thankyou, makes me feel happy! I didn't realise Stacey was on the same blogsite, but her blog rocks, she's an experienced blogger, check it out, she goes out in the same ports as me obviously, and sometimes our experiences are similar, sometimes different. Here's a link (I hope)http:/www.travelsofstacey.blogspot.com to Stacey's site.

"Jelly" means "Here" in Mandarin, then

Amazing. I now know why my sister seems to keep discussing jelly with taxi drivers in Shanghai. So, when my sister yells “Jelly, jelly, Boo! Jelly!” she’s actually saying, “Here, here, no! It’s here!” Gotta love Mandarin. In fact, I’m very proud of my sister for having learned a good basic grasp of it, it’s a very difficult language.

So, we managed to get off the ship at noon, and this time with my friend Paul in tow as well as Eric, we headed back to Le Royal Meridien, where my parents are still staying since the last time we were docked in Shanghai.
Since our last visit, my sister has quit her job, (see, they move quickly in the world of high fashion) and she was in a job interview when we arrived.

We checked in and agreed to head off on our mission to get Paul some fabric, to redecorate the Officer’s bar onboard for his upcoming 26th Birthday. My sister had told us the best place to buy fabric is the Donjiadu Fabric Market.
We are lucky that the ultra-attentive concierge staff quickly produced a little flash-card with the Mandarin translation for us, Shanghai is not a place where the taxi drivers speak or understand directions in English.
The market was indoor, and on 4 levels. There were lots of stalls with mock-ups of recent Chanel/Westwood suits on mannequins outside, with the picture of the original attached to them, yours made to fit your body for a fraction of the price of the real ones. I tried on a red coat with a ridiculously high and wide collar, I loved it, it was a Gucci copy, but decided against buying, you really have to be feeling strong to go through the whole haggling/fitting/buying rigmorole.

With fabric procured, and having met up as a group now, we got taxis to another indoor market, a “fake” one again, Fengxiang Clothing Gift Plaza on the Nanjing Road West. Our next mission, you see, was to get Eric that Arcteryx jacket he’d had his eye on since the last time we were in Shangers (it’s what all the expats call it!)
He got the one he wanted, at just over $100 US, which is good because it appeared to be the real thing (a lot of this stuff actually IS real, it’s made in Shanghai and just never makes it to where it’s supposed to go) and so worth around $400-$500, but I knew the purchase had been too quick, and when the seller even threw in a decent pair of thinsulate gloves, he knew he’d still overpaid, he just hasn’t perfected his bargaining technique like me.
The thing is, you have to offer literally a third of whatever they say the price is. This may sound grotesquely harsh, but that’s what sellers try to charge people, and from there the haggling begins. Basically, if they follow you when you try to walk away, you know they’ll accept that price and are just trying to make more out of you by pleading that your offer is too cheap. I do realise it sounds cruel to be so contolled with your money, but often these vendors try to take advantage of American/English tourist’s unfamiliarity with the currency or convince them to pay retail price for fakes. I say WISE UP! I mean the average daily wage in Shanghai is RMB35, that’s like 60cents US an HOUR, and it’s liveable because the value of goods due to lack of taxing/import etc. is less. We shouldn’t be paying US prices here (and we DEFINITELY shouldn’t pay London prices! EVER!)

Eric also bought this wicked orange ski suit, (yes, he can even make orange work) for much less this time, RMB450 (and guess who did the buying for him!) which is about $60 and a good deal as again, it’s identical to the real thing and may well actually BE the real thing.

He also sneakily bought me a cute black Mickey Mouse shirt for my rehearsals (we have to wear black, but I’m pushing the logo-inclusive envelope as far as I can!)

Loaded with our stuff, we walked through the People’s Square, past the Park Hotel (which I want to name Pang Hotel) for a cocktail and a sandwich for the boys before their journey back to the ship. It was a gorgeous afternoon, sunny and lazy-like.

A strong blueberry mojito inside me, and I walked back with my parents to the hotel for a swim in the pool before dinner. We also booked the whole Scarrott family in to the spa for various treatments at 5pm the next day.

Dinner was in a wonderfully salubrious Chinese restaurant on the Bund, where this photo of my parents was taken. Afterward, my sister and I navigated the subways under the main road to walk along the Bund (this is scary due to the abundance of very pushy beggars and motorbikes, yes MOTORBIKES that run rife down there) and I took this picture of her wearing the pleasure boat’s tiara, see? Nice.

We went across the street from where we had dinner, to an extremely chi-chi drinks spot called Glamour Bar, the cocktails were amazing, I had something pink and sweet called a Miss Martini to start, and I forget after that(!) and there was a good lyricist, pianist and bass player doing a final set.

On to for the final part of our evening, where we met back up with Eric, after his dance sets on the ship, and drank in a German Brauhaus, with a Phillipino band, and met many of the cast. . They had litre glasses of beer! I refused to buy Eric this ridiculous serving of beverage, getting him instead the more sensible half litre, which was still gargantuan, and still we all got drunk.

After a lovely night’s sleep in the Meridien, Eric and I decided on an early swim. This is him, pre-pool. I won’t dwell on it (because he reads this and will get narcissistic on me) but Good Grief this man is a good looking man….
After a swim and a soak in the Jacuzzi, we met up with my folks and headed to the Shanghai Architectural museum. I LOVE this typo: “Individuation” (individuaSHON!) is the word du jour. It’s what they’re all saying in Milan.
The museum had a scale model of Shanghai, and the intended renovations and city plan in time for the 2012 Expo there, that covered the whole of one of the floors. Here’s my Dad, doing what Dad does best, talking about buildings to Eric.

We walked the streets, stopping for a coffee in Starbucks and being handed a weird plush banana for buying two of their new Banana-coconut-coffee Frappuccinos (I wouldn’t really recommend them, and I was a partner at the green goddess of coffee myself at one point!) as well as purchasing more DVDs. I got the whole 3rd series of LOST. AND IT WORKS! YEAH! I’m so into that series, and we’ve been unable to get it thus far. I’ll be SO popular on the ship now.

Eric left us at 3pm, for his rehearsal at 4 onboard, and we met up with Jo at chi-chi shopping mall Plaza 66, where after much deliberation I bought a very expensive Karl Lagerfeld black shirt for my friend Paul’s Birthday which is tomorrow.

At 5pm, the whole family went for our first EVER simultaneous spa experience. I shared a room with Jo, and she had a Balinese massage, while I had hot stones rubbed into me until all my knots were pretty much gone. It’s not for the faint-hearted, occasionally the stones are REALLY hot, but it works.
Meanwhile, mum had a 90 minute facial, and Dad got beaten up by a Chinese lady under the pretence of a Reflexology treatment. He was visibly shaken on returning to the reception, where Eric, having finished his rehearsal, was waiting.

I took him up to the 44th floor, where between 5.30pm and 8, there’s free booze and dim-sum, so that he could eat before his 8.30pm shows. This is the concierge dining area, pretty sharp huh?

With Eric in a taxi, my sister and our parents headed over to a Spanish-ish restaurant Messa, where we ate on a terrace on the 2nd floor of the place. Although service was slow, the food was great, and we had a chance to plan our next holiday, in December if all are well and available. The Polish manager ordered me a taxi back to the ship for 10pm, which I accepted sadly, waving to my family all the way. Guys, I LOVE YOU!

Back onboard, a quick Happy Birthday shout-out to Roque on his 70th, our Trombone player, before bed.

It's a Great Wall, that one in China

The 6.15 start in Beijing was postponed until 7am, and then 8.15, and we finally left at 9.45, which cut into our time at the Wall considerably. After about 2 hours of driving with a highly enthusiastic tour guide endeavouring to keep us awake with her faulty microphone, we stopped for a "Pestroom"(Typo Sign number 23!) and some convenience food. Among my daring purchases were a packet of sausages (chicken?) a packet of what looked like soap cakes from men's urinals and incidentally tasted much as I'd imagine those things to taste like, and a pot of jelly which, on closer inspection, had a picture of a turtle shell on it. I haven't eaten in yet.

At 11.55 we arrived at the wall, and had to be back by 1.30pm. Eric and I set off at a quick pace, leading the "pack". We were amongst Alex, the male ballroom dancer, and Clayton the a capella singer, whose butt you can just see in this picture. The steps were different heights in the "new"grey brick section, but once we got up high, the "old" wall stones were older, fallen away in places and brown. It was a leg workout fuh shaw!

I did well, (if I do say so myself) and climbed pretty sharpish up to where there was a raised wall one side, and a sheer drop the other. This walkway here is as high as I climbed, and from here on the wall had fallen into disrepair, with only steps up. I walked slowly down, meeting up with colleagues on the way and leaving Eric and the boys to do, well, their boy I-can-climb-as-high-as-you-can thing and continue to a vantage point with a flag in it.

I bought a shirt for RMB25, as I thought the woman deserved it, I had seen her friend in the picture carting all her wares on her back. There were no cable cars or buses here. Imagine, she has soft drinks in that cooler on her back, and has walked at least 20mins up.

We took it slow going back down the bigger steps, admiring the amazing landscape and the rest of the wall, stretching along the brow of the hills as far as we could see. I also love the Chinese etched graffiti, for all I know it could say "Dennis woz here '98" in Mandarin cursive script, but it's easy on the eye!

The journey back was a restful one, we'd tired ourselves out, but I had one of those "Wow, that was the GREAT WALL OF CHINA!" moments that make this job worthwhile. I even bought edible food on the way back to replenish my strength after all that climbing!

Dalian's Dumplings (and Ocean World)

We set out today on a mission to find the aquarium with the longest underwater tunnel in Asia (this is a big claim, no?)
We just missed the shuttle, so decided to try our luck walking out of the terminal to flag down a taxi rather than wait a half hour. Barely 10 steps later, we were stopped by the sound of “TAXI!” and ushered into a car with no meter whose driver promised to take us wherever we wanted.

We pointed to where we wanted to go, Sun-Asia Ocean World, which he seemed put out by, gesturing it wasn’t very good and he’d take us somewhere else, but we were undeterred. We argued over the fare, I still think he overcharged us, and he stopped to discuss it with his mates as well. He took us to some white columns, saying we should photograph them, and I started to get mad. At this point, he drove quickly and quietly to Sun-Asia Theme park, home of Ocean World, Tiger Beach Ocean Park and Coral World. We were accosted by one of the driver’s friends, who ushered us to the ticket booth, and when we paid (we decided just one park, the Ocean World one, would be sufficient for RMB 100 each) handed their ID over the counter to grab a cut from us. Cheeky.

Anyway, inside, we went through the park. I’m not going to mince words, it was RADIO-RENTALS! Various themed lands, check. Fish, check. Indoor fluorescent paint, check. I mean, I’ve been to some theme parks (and worked in an Asian one too) but this was something else. Check out these translations next to the attractions (my favourite is “scream merrily”) I hope they come out big enough to be read because I laughed so hard I thought I’d, um, disappoint myself.

The shark tank, however, was chock full of big, fat sharks and worth all the, um, stuff we’d had to wander through to get there. The sea lions were fun, too, they made Eric happy with their expressive faces.
The underwater tunnel was indeed very long, and winding, with even a sunken car in the surrounding tank and lots of fish/turtles, but the conveyor belt was broken. We missed the 2pm show where I THINK through various mimes from employees, they feed the sharks, but we’d had a big dose of aquatic life for one day.

Back in a thankfully metered taxi, we headed for the shuttle drop off in town, at the Friendship Store which proudly bore a banner welcoming Crystal Harmony (bless).
We dropped in to the impressive looking Shangri La Hotel (it had tennis courts!) and asked for a nearby good Chinese restaurant.
The place they sent us to was possibly the best meal I’ve had in China. We sat at a table amongst live and recently not-alive seafood, see the picture of Eric looking at it all, and pointed at pictures of things we thought we might like to eat.
We had some deep-fried sweetcorn toast with sweet orangey sauce, two different types of wicked dumplings and a really tasty big bowl of soup with noodles, veggies and pork. The green tea kept coming, and it was an inexpensive meal. Eric is outside it here, note the new Chelsea shirt (yes! I’ve made him into a Blues fan! And I don’t mean music!)
We made it back to the ship, stuffed.

Shanghai with the fam

At about 9.30am, Eric and I left from the pier in Shanghai (which incidentally was extremely close to downtown, we were most impressed) and although due to my sister’s phone-death we experienced problems in the taxi initially, we arrived at Le Royal Meridien Hotel, just off of the pedestrian street Nanjing Road, by 10.15.

We were ushered upstairs to the 44th floor, the concierge level via two different lifts/elevators (nice) to get our room keys over coffee and banana bread. My mum had met us at the reception to pay for our taxi(!) and Dad came to the concierge lobby for coffee. It was great to see them. We chatted, dumped our bags in the room (which was on the 45th floor, and STUNNING) and quickly checked out the pool and spa. There was a proper sprung-floor dance studio and I got to try and show off to my man by throwing a few of the old ballet shapes on the barre.

We set out with the fam to walk down Nanjing Road and on towards the Peace Hotel, one of my favourite spots in Shanghai because it appears to have been the inspiration for the Tower of Terror in Walt Disney World, seriously everything in there is slightly creepy. Check out the coat-check man, exactly the same costume, er, uniform as in TOT! There’s an authentic (ie no AC) jazz bar downstairs where the musicians are older than all my family’s ages put together. We went for a drink on the top floor, where Eric found this bell amongst the faded glamour, and I had a Peace cocktail. I have no idea what was in thie martini glass it was served in, but it was strong.
We bumped in to my sister walking down the Nanjing Road, (she’s been given a job here, she’s the brand manager of a fashion label, Urban Shock, cool!) and we went to one of her favourite spots for lunch, an unnamed restaurant that served good Chinese food (except, they, uh, just call it food!)
Jo ordered, which I think relieved us all, and among the highlights of the meal (which, according to custom, we couldn’t finish. Our host must over-order and we must obligingly be satisfied and unable to eat all that was generously provided) included a sweet-and-sour fish served whole and a Shangalese speciality, a small dumpling served with a straw inside to suck the juices out. It burned my tongue, but it rocked.

After lunch, we headed to the underground, “fake” market. We navigated the underground and from Nanjing Rd East, got the line 2 about 4 stops to some station with Technology in the title. The market was all around us on disembarking the train. We started down one of the myriad of avenues and after minutes the dream team (Eric’s name for the combination of my mum aqnd I shopping together) had bought a ton of DVDs all for 8RMB (a US dollar) each. At one point, all vendors shut up shop due to an appearance by the police, which was exciting, but commerce soon resumed.
Eric and I both bought pairs of jeans, he bought black 501s, I got some cute Diesel rip-offs, and I also managed to buy a bunch of dresses. I think I may make a shopper out of Eric yet, he found an ArcTeryks thermal hiking jacket I think he has his eye on for next time.

Back at the hotel, we went for a swim before dinner, in the pool with a glass ceiling which gave us great views of the light-show running up the sides of the hotel tower. We practiced lifts too, with relative success (considering it was Eric’s first time!)

Dinner was a great all-you-can-eat-and-drink teppanyaki restaurant (meaning that you sit around a hotplate and a guy cooks your food in front of you) called Tairyo Teppanyaki. The steak in particular was amazing, and plum wine is sweet and drinkable I found. At just over $10 US, it was also pretty good value.

After dinner, Jo took us to a regular haunt, a jazz bar she frequents. The musicians were from either New Orleans, New York or Massachusets, and the piano/sax player was probably the best asset to the group. We left by 12.30, thoroughly tired.

The next day, after another swim, and breakfast on the 44th floor, we met up with our driver, Wong, from Jo’s boss’ company, and were taken to the Yuyuang Gardens and surrounding shopping area. After a Starbucks, the world seemed a better place!
The gardens are stunning, it was more crowded than I ever saw it, but I love these Koy Carp, best seen from the so-called “Lover’s Stones” where in ancient China it was one of the few places, once the gardens were open to the public, it was acceptable for courtship, ie men talking with women, to take place. This is well demonstrated by my father. It’s amazing to think it was once a private garden, it’s so flooded now with tourism. On the way back, we found a calligraphy/stationary shop. AWESOME. For roughly $20, I kitted myself out with paper, brushes, inkstone, block, red ink and two chops for some serious Chinese art sessions later on.

We met Jo for lunch in the Portman Hotel, where there is a cool, young fresh-juicey lunchey spot called Fresh Events. I had hummus and veggies, and curbed my mild hangover with a bloody mary. Okay, two bloody marys.

We left Wong and the car, and walked back down Fangbang road and onto Jo’s flagship store, where I maxed out my credit card and somehow became a VIP member of Urban Shock. I was given a free umbrella. Unfortunately Eric had to head back to the ship before the buying commenced, so we walked back, via a pitstop and cocktail stop in the Four Seasons before heading back. My Dad bought me some US magazines to read, Cosmo and OK, which rocked.

Back at the hotel (now only one room, my folk’s room, Eric and I had checked out) I tried on some of our purchases and decided to wear one to dinner at New Heights on the bund. Richard, my sister’s boss took us out, I think partially due to solidarity as two women left the company that day, and although I didn’t have time for my main course, I had to get back to the ship by 8.30pm (why?! Why one and a half hours before sail-away?) it was a lovely evening.

Get the ferry over to an active volcano? Yes Please!

Paul (one of the ensemble, a good friend) graciously gave Eric his IPM (in-port manning) card, thus freeing Eric to come on a little adventure in Kagoshima with me. The first stop in Taniyama pier, Kagoshima, was the tourist information, where we got a whole load of information/maps/tour guides, which occupied our time during the 30 minute bus-shuttle into downtown Kagoshima.
We were dropped at the Yamakataya Shopping centre in downtown, an interesting place, it even had a monk with a small bell, who would bless anyone who stopped to ask him, and ring his bell at you if you did not.

After consulting another lady at the Crystal Cruise information desk, we decded to set off for the Sakurajima Ferry Terminal, and head over to the former island (now a peninsula due to an eruption in 1914) Mount Sukarajima. The active volcano on the island last erupted in 1960, but it smokes constantly. We grabbed some canned coffee (cold coffee in cans seems to be the way to go in Kagoshima, there were vending machines about every 20 steps in town) and some strange pastries (some green buns containing bean-paste, a raspberry swirl croissant and a big slab of white bread covered in sticky sweet butter) for the 25 minute journey. There was even a widescreen TV on the ferry, obviously it usually operates as a commuter transport service rather than for tourists. We docked on the west side of Kagoshima.
Once on the island, you could smell the volcanic ash. We almost gave up on a taxi, but just as we were leaving to go wander, a taxi showed up, and took us on a 20 minute ride to the south of the island, to the Furusato Kanko Hotel, and it’s….wait for it…..MAGMA HOT SPRINGS!

In the lobby, Eric ended up drawing stick diagrams to convey our wish to visit the hot springs, for just an hour, and then that we needed transport back to the ferry. Yuki, a nice but nervous young man, ushered us to a ticket machine where we paid Y1050 each (there’s 120 to the US dollar) to go to the springs. We went to the indoor changing rooms (a mistake, we later realised we should’ve gone to the OUTDOOR changing rooms if we wanted to use the outdoor springs) armed with a bag containing our robes and the key to the locker where we’d left our valuables up at reception. Incidentally, check out the toilet controls! I’ve heard about them but never experienced it, the seat warmed to my, er, seat!

I wore just my robe, unsure about the bathing-suit issue, which Yuki seemed against. We put our clothes into a little basket provided in the separate male/female changing rooms with separate indoor Japanese-garden style baths, and then met outside, grabbed a little hand-towel (at the risk of offence, everything was very little and cute in the baths) and walked down towards the outside baths.

This is where we discovered where we SHOULD have changed, but never mind. We grabbed some flip-flops, and went for our “starter hot water” shower before entering the hot-spring bath. Luckily, Eric had discovered you’re supposed to keep the robe ON while bathing (see picture!), seems silly to me, but I’m glad he told me, because otherwise I’d have embarrassed myself by disrobing, particularly as a couple from the ship also showed up later! It was warm, but not painfully hot. Apparently this “Buddha baths” was discovered in c.1750 and used by monks. When it became available to the public, people were so convinced of it’s medicinal properties, they even drank 2 litres of it as a tonic on each visit. I inadvertently drank some, while relaxing with Eric, and I’m not so sure.
Anyway, the bath itself had a beautiful ocean view and was stunningly pretty, with a shrine, and 13 smaller buddhas secluded under a banyan tree. I took beautiful pictures of it all, but unfortunately my camera gave up on me, deciding it’s memory card wouldn’t work. Maybe it was the humidity of the bath, whatever, so this one from the brochure will have to do. It was exactly like this, except we were in the water!
An hour later, we went back up (dripping in our robes all the way up the hill, it wasn’t a warm day either!) and had a brief soak in the indoor bath, much hotter, and made use of the little bucket, stool and shower-head wash stations before changing and grabbing the hotel’s complimentary shuttle bus back to the ferry.

We had a bowl of noodles with miso broth and a deep-fried vegetable cake in it on the way back. At Y500, about $3, and remember this is food served on a ferry, in transit (the price of food on any rail/boat service in the UK is extortionate) I don’t think Japan is as expensive as people make out.

Back on the mainland and with half an hour to spare, we bought sweet potato icecream, which is very tasty, and a whole baked sweet potato, which is just like a potato and not so tasty, but filling.
In a shoe store, when I asked for a bigger size, I was sent to a special “over 25cm” section. Shoe sizes are done literally on the length of your foot in Japan, which is very sensible really, and the size on display was a teeny 22.5cm. At a UK 6, European 39 or US 7.5, I’m an ogre in Japan!

We found a Y100 store which was great, and bought more doughnut-type pastries, noodle bowls for late-night post crew-bar munchies, more bottled tea/coffees and some pickled seaweed in little packets. I also bought some gorgeous stationary. What a great day! I just hope, as we were 5 minutes late for all-aboard, I don’t get in trouble….

Bells and Buddhas in Keelung, Taiwan

I was intrigued to go into Keelung not just because I saw the Starbucks from deck 7 as we endured a crew drill, but because we’d heard about the Hot Springs in nearby (well, 40 minute train journey) Taipei.
Alas, a rehearsal until noon put paid to our Taipei idea, but Eric went out to investigate while I rehearsed for a reblock (poor Wolfie has injured his neck.)

First off was the Miaokou food market, it comes alive at night, apparently, but is also very much alive in my opinion in the day. This place was amazing, full of all those exotic and strange food smells, and signs with great, no nonsense English translations above regular pitches (like little canteens) such as “Oily rice with Pork thick Soup” and “Pork Large Intestine Rings”.

I tried a papaya juice, and had a stick of poached quail eggs from the stand you can see in the picture. I also got some small sausages (pork intestine?) from the stall that also had squid on sticks. They were gorgeous. I bought a Tupperware of glutenous white stuff in chunks to try, thinking it was sweet, but the bag of sauce inside turned out to be sweet and sour, and the food itself bland and slightly fishy. I have no idea what it was! Eric had a barbequed corn on the cob, but our choices were tame considering what the place had on offer. It was overstuffed with wonderful food, most of which we couldn’t order due to bashfulness and touristic stupidity. We just didn’t know. The people, however, were very friendly apart from one woman who ignored us when we tried to order sushi. Can’t win ‘em all!

In the middle of the food market was Tien-Chi temple. Familiar with the drill by now, I walked in and placed 100 note (there’s 32 to the US dollar, although I don’t know exactly WHAT the name of the currency is!) in the donations box and waited for my joss-sticks and paper offerings from the people at the desk. For just over $3, I was given a big packet of incense, tons of paper and even a packet of biscuits to offer. The lady even showed me where to place my offerings, and a nice man took us to the furnace, where you see Paul is busy burning paper.




Paul left us due to a manicure appointment soon after, and Eric and I set off for Jhongjheng Park atop the hill, the conspicuous icon of Keelung with it’s huge white Guanyhin statue.
There were many temples and steps up the hill, MANY steps. At various intervals there were open-air karaoke stops, which were bizarre yet touching. In one, you can see in the picture, a couple was even dancing a slow waltz to the rendition of a Taiwanese hit from long ago. There was also another pebble bare-foot reflexology walk at some point half way up. My calves were aching.

Finally at the park, it was a weird mix of tradition and commerce, a funfair/amusement park alongside a temple, a Buddhist library and a huge bell. In the temple, women knelt while occasionally throwing two small stones, clasped between their palms, on the floor. It was fascinating.

Outside, for a small donation, we pulled the chord attached to a huge horizontal log suspended alongside the bell, to make it ring.
Around us, kids and adults rode these mechanical animals. They were exactly like huge versions of the toys I used to love when I was little, the little yapper-type dogs that would walk for three, yap for three, except that you could feed them with coins and ride them!

We got a taxi ride back due to my calf issue. At sail-away, we turned around in what was probably the tightest gap I’ve ever seen, look how close we were to another boat! However, the captain, vice captain and pilot seemed happy, as you can see.