China and the End of the Cruise

 

After our two stops in South Korea, we had one sea day before pulling into the Port of Tianjin (closest town is actually Tanggu, and Tianjin is an hour train ride from there). The visibility was very poor, most likely caused by the massive amounts of coal burning that takes place. The new cruise terminal was quite large, but very lacking in facilities. After the lengthy immigration process, I finally left the ship and headed to the currency exchange booth – guess what, they’d “run out of money.” With no local currency and nothing within 10 miles, there was nothing I could do but go back on the ship. Even though the 50-minute bus ride into Tanggu cost only 2 Yuan (about 35 cents), I had no Yuan – back to ship.

I was a little luckier the next day; a couple and I combined funds to reduce the impact of the excessive transaction fee at the currency exchange booth, but after exchanging only $100, they ran out of money again. I took the bus into Tanggu, and then the train to Tianjin (16 stops, one hour – 9 Yuan, or $1.50). My plan was to then take the high-speed train into Beijing, but it was now too late to be able to get the bus back to the port if I went to Beijing, so I took the train back to Tanggu, and caught the bus back to the port.

There is a lot of building taking place, but no one in the areas. I saw one place where there were about 300 new apartment buildings (30-40 stories each), all built, but not finished on outside, no windows, etc. And the port area is all on reclaimed land, they’re building there also, but no one lives out there. I stayed on the ship the third day in port. I was very disappointed in the port terminal and facilities (or lack thereof). If they want to continue to get cruise ships there, they

As we pulled away, I noticed the outside lining of cabin window was covered with black soot. No wonder my throat still hurt and my eyes were stinging.

We had two days at sea to me our way to Shanghai, where I got off the ship, went to the airport, and flew home (Shanghai – Vancouver – Seattle – Boise). It was nice to get back to fresh air.

My summary of the cruise:

The staff of the Celebrity Millennium was excellent, and they and the passengers seemed to really appreciate my port talks. Average attendance at the six talks ranged from 400 to 700, and I was always deluged with individual questions afterward. I also gave a couple informal Q&A sessions on writing, and there were some very interesting discussions that took place. I enjoyed the itinerary of this cruise, and I would do it again (hopefully with my wife going the next time) as I have a lot more knowledge of the areas now.