sooooo great having bob here! he won’t have his ship id card til after his second training class (after hong kong), so he is stuck on board until then… i did not have ipm today, and though i was loathe to leave his side, he and i thought it would be nice to at least get a hong kong souvenir, so i went out… hong kong has graduated from the bargain bin of the past… it is now full of high end stores and hotels and casinos (the bargains will be found now in viet nam, apparently)- it was like rodeo drive, and the malls were huge and labrynthian… i did find a few places that had some things that weren’t too pricey; our travel guide on board who has been here many times was wistful when talking about bargains of the past in hong kong… it’s not as spendy, though, as australia, and there are still a few good prices here and there to be found.
i went to a chinese arts and crafts market, which sounded less expensive… they neglected to put the word ‘fine’ in front of arts… wow! beautiful jade carvings, amazing and ornate furniture, scrolls and scrolls, gorgeous fabrics, and then i found them: some really cool chinese paint brushes in a very beautiful silk covered box.. they are the type of brushes for doing chinese lettering or painting, and i also got some paints to go with them for nino. on the way back, i was going to get a chopsticks set for the family, and the saleslady talked me into the set with the matching table runner (so let’s have chinese food at my house when i get back, mom n pop!). a tiny buddha statue was the last find… may it give me patience and compassion in the last half of the journey for the small percent of folks who require it… i think i’ll keep it on the piano…
thank god for the largest share of my piano bar peeps… warm and wonderful! and, wow, did they give bob quite the hearty hero’s welcome! he is already a celebrity, and everyone is stopping to shake his hand and meet him… when he came into the piano bar on his break tonight, they all burst into applause! tonight, there was a bit of a scheduling oversight, because they had a chinese cultural show on board at 7pm, one show only, in lieu of 8 and 10pm shows, so naturally my lounge was a ghost town, as was bob’s… both our lounges usually have a big turnout at 7… at 8 when we both break, there was nothing for anyone to do since the chinese show was over, and we were all on break… anyway, i felt bad, so i went back to work at 8:30 instead of 9 so there would be something happening. my 9 o’clock theme was mardi gras, since it’s mardi gras, and it was packed. i did a lot of dixie stuff (‘sweet georgia brown,’ ‘way down yonder in new orleans,’), some louis armstrong (‘what a wonderful world,’ and harry connick, ‘do you know what it means to miss new orleans,’) and we passed out mardi gras beads and had fun… 10 o’clock it was almost a ghost town again, because they were having a sailaway party in the crow’s nest (great view; don’t blam ‘em!). i still had a handful of my core peeps stay, tho, who watched the sailaway from the piano bar… i am so lucky to have such an amazing, ever changing view out of my ‘office.’ one couple gave me and bob a nice bottle of wine to celebrate… i thought that was nice! sorry no good pics today… i accidentally left my camera when i went out, and the night pics i tried to take didn’t turn out so well… rest assured that when we come back to hong kong this fall on the grand asia voyage, we will go out and have some major hong kong adventures! coming up presently, we have two sea days and then go to phu my, vietnam, where i have ipm but bob does not (one of two times where we don’t synch up), so bob will be able to go out there… i have done some trading (including 1st hong kong day) to absolutely ensure that he and i will have both days of singapore off, next week, so we will get plenty of pics and adventures there! i realized i forgot to put in manila’s port song the other day, so i will post both hong kong and manila port songs here…
cheers! –di
port song for hong kong
(to the tune of “slow boat to china”)
i’m gonna get him on a slow boat to china all to myself alone
gonna get him and keep him on board ever more
til i get him home again on that far away shore
out on the briny, so glad that he’s miney, no more to be here all alone (on my own)
so maybe i didn’t see much of hong kong in old china
but back in his arms, i feel once again at home
i didn’t see no Buddha, no crazy Stanley
i may not have gone to macau but, oh honey, wow!
today i did dash out for a bit - got some paintbrushes, a buddha and fancy chopsticks
then i headed right back to my baby who is stuck a few more days on the ship
and we’ll come back to hong kong on the autumn grand voyage
and we’ll sure look forward to seeing it then
but i wouldn’t trade these last two days of not seeing much of china
to have my baby here with me again
yes, i went and got him on a slow boat to china all to myself alone
gonna hold him and kiss him, he’s the one that i adore
bass playing ain’t all he’s good at, i don’t need to say more!
out on the briny, glad to see his cute hiney, no more to be here all alone (on my own)
so maybe i didn’t see much of hong kong in old china
but i’m back in his arms and i am once again at home!
port song for manila, philippines
(to the tune of barry manilow’s “copa cabana”)
my name is diane i’m a piano girl
don’t like it if you touch my hair or grab me from behind my chair
but i’m carefree when they change the schedule
and if they say no to koror, there’s no palau
i won’t faint on the floor - or stomp out of the door
cause we’re all still here with each other; who could ask for more?
you ain’t lived ‘til ya - been to manila
so give it an extra day will ya - and just chill, yeah - there in manila
be glad for our crew who have families there, too
they’ll be so thrilled, yeah - to see the ones they love
out on the streets, tho, take off those diamonds
it’s prob’ly best if you don’t wear - stuff you don’t want boosted there
or when we’re finished and this port is over
you’d be sadder more by far then drown your sorrows at the bar
and you’d be oh so blue – and then hungover, too
and then if this song got stuck in your head, you might blame you know who
look for thrills yeah, here in manila - but remember to be careful, now, will ya
and when they bill ya, here in manila, it’s pleasantly less than most places i guess
where the shops will drill ya - the prices here, i love
the first day i was - a get up and go girl
i bought some dried mango and fuji
went out for lunch that was filipino
and coffee shops were everywhere, so i had a triple espresso there
i had a real fine time - next day i didn’t mind
that i had rainy day ipm cause we’d had the extra time
it wasn’t vanilla, in old manila, the traffic was certainly a thriller
and not seeing palau
and had our fill yeah, and given alofi, niue a shove
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