Sailing for nearly 36 hours a distance of 585 nm the Volendam docked in Jeju at 9.44 am on a cool 16 c day. Our day tour included the Sunrise Peak and the Seongup Folk Village. The first stop , Seongsan Sunrise Peak was scenic but nothing to write home about, especially the Lady divers display. The peak is a classic tuff cone rising 180 metres above sea level. It was formed by a hydro-volcanic eruption 5000 years ago. It is now a World Heritage site. The sec...

This he did because after two sea days and 732 nm and near gale conditions with temperature 8c we awoke at 6 am the ship was along side in Beijing. When we joined the cruise we asked about changing our booking so that we could participate in the 2 day Beijing overnight tour. As it turned out we made a good decision. According to our guide Glenn the drive to the wall was supposed to take up to three hours but the traffic gods were not in our favour, it took nea...

We sailed 869 nm over two days through balmy days and nights (15 -19c) with partly clouded days to reach Shanghai. The Volendam docked on time (5.04 am) and we were up for an early start. I had picked a leisurely morning tour the see "Old and New Shanghai". We soon found out why the tour left early, the traffic was horrendous. However we enjoyed our 4 hours with a very informative guide. I thought that Hong Kong was intimidating , but Shanghai was something e...

When we got up this morning the weather was bleak and raining, so much so it put a dampner on our day immediately. We decided that today was not a day for touring because on looking out the window we could not see the rather large buildings on the harbourside nor even the hills which we later learned was trhe Peak. After breakfast we decided that we may as well walk to find the Ocean terminal so that we would knopw where to go to embark. So out we went and aft...

It is a good morning for the start of our trip. Margaret and I are leaving Brisbane bound for Hong Kong. Rob and Annie picked us up at 7.00 am for an early check-in, which we achieved before the crowds arrived. Getting through security for me on this occasion was a breeze because BAC now has Xray screening, so I did not have to undress. The downside was that we had a three hour wait in the Qantas Club. However we boarded on time and with Tattinger champagne in h...