SATURDAY AT SEA (7 NOV, 2009)

Saturday was the second full day at sea of the cruise as we made our way back to Naples from our last Greek Island visit at Santorini. Mood in the ocaeanview café was pretty somber after the sad event of the previous evening. I give the ship credit for keeping the passengers informed of what was happening and not trying to hide the bad news.

Mrs. V and myself decided it might be a god day to do a bit of exercise to see if we could reverse some of the damage done by the mass of food we’d consumed so far during the cruise. First up was the table tennis competition. Not exactly Balls of Fury but pretty competitive anyway. I got knocked out in the first round so we skulked off to the East Coast swing class in the Quasar nightclub. Managed to pick up the basic step but got lost as soon as the instructor moved into the turns. Ever noticed how dance instructors jump from very basic to very complex in just one step? Maybe I’m just a slow learner. Anyway, managed to work up a sweat even if I did look like a klutz.

Dinner was to be a formal event in which you have to wear a tux or a suit. Glad Mrs. V packed my wedding suit and happily surprised it still fits seven years on. Most of the guests looked great and the slick onboard photography operation was ready to pounce. It’s a great idea to get some professional photos taken when you’re looking your best. Just wish I’d had some plastic surgery before the cruise!

SANTORINI & SUICIDE

Friday we arrived in Santorini for the day. We joined an afternoon bus tour that would take us to the village of Oia, and then back to Thira where we would ride the funicular back down to the port. Positive surprise of the trip occured when the bus stopped in at a winery called Santo Wines. I'd been reading about Greek Dry Whites in Decanter magazine and one of the 5 star awards went to a wine made by this company - Nykteri - a blend of three local white wine grapes. This same wine was available for tasting and I managed to gulp down quite a few glasses in our brief 30 minute stop. Delicious.

A sad event occurred a few hours after we left Santorini. A female passenger jumped off deck 14 into the sea. Another guest saw it happen and alerted the crew. A search was initiated with other cruise ships and a coastguard helicopter joining in. Unfortunately, they were unable to locate her and eventually the ship had to leave the area to make the long journey back to Naples.

RHODES

Docked in Rhodes today. Port only a couple of hundred metres from the old walled city. Pretty amazing place full of multiple layers of history. Another place you could spend weeks in without seeing everything.

Sat down for a plate of Dolmades and a glass of Ouzo at Christina's family restaurant. Christina very patiently listened as I practiced the few lines of Greek I've picked up while waiting outside carpet and jewelry shops. Ouzo much better than I remembered and quite a good kick for the rest of the days sightseeing. Dolmades also very nice. After six days on the floating buffet, I've yet to feel hungry and I'm really having trouble appreciating the many and varied local delicacies.

Leaving here tonight at 6PM (Thursday Nov. 5th) and heading for Santorini where we'll no doubt be seeing more jewelry and carpet shops mixed in with some local tourist highlights. I'm looking forward to trying a few Greek white wines and disappointed we don't have any on the boat. Adio!

ATHENS, MYKONOS & KUSADASI

Yesterday, the boat docked at Piraeus - the port of Athens. We did a three hour afternoon bus tour of the city. It was just enough time to see, and take a few photos of, the Pathenon, the Olympic stadium and the 2004 Olympic village. Because it was an afternoon tour we spent most of the trip sitting in traffic. Athens traffic has a bad reputation but from what I saw drivers were curteous and calm - nothing like the traffic chaos of Shenzhen or the aggressiveness of Hong Kong drivers. Athens looked green and tidy too. Guess you can't really judge a city in three hours but I'd be happy to go back.

Today we docked on the island of Mykonos - a rocky outpost with lots of pretty white houses. Shuttle bus took us into town where we converged upon, with thousands of other passengers, the jewellery shops and seaside restaurants. The town seemed to cope very well with the influx of visitors where it seems the locals have fine tuned the art of liberating visitors from their Euros. Backstreet's were very atmospheric, though, and Mrs V picked up a few ceramic souvenirs which should just about put us into excess baggage territory for the trip home.

Leaving Mykonos at 5PM today (Tuesday) and heading for the Turkish coastal town of Kusadasi. From Kusadasi you can take tours to see the ruins of Ephesus. I know my history loving sister will berate me if I don't make the effort to see the ruins but the 7.30AM start and 7 hour tour duration have just about killed the idea for me - perhaps I can photo shop myself into some stock photos and pretend we made the effort?

Spelling checker doesn't seem to be working and the boat is pulling out of dock right now so must finish in a hurry - typos and all. Adio from Mykonos!

DOCKED AT MESSINA

Sitting here on the Celebrity Solstice looking out at the city of Messina, Italy. Amazingly got the Italian Prepaid mobile broadband (Wind) to work but it'll cut out as soon as we leave port (6PM tonight, Saturday 3oth). Ships onboard internet works pretty well but way to expensive to be able to blog.

Took a day trip to Taormina today. Was a very pretty hillside village and the highlight was the Greek ampitheatre. Would have posted a photo except our HCSD card is a new one that doesn't work with my Windows XP laptop (wasted the last half hour working that out). Lunched on Gnooci with four cheese sauce and a glass of Nero D'Avola - excellent but not really a weight watchers choice. Tour guide on the bus talked for the whole hour to Taormina and my ears felt like bleeding by the time we got there. Glad he shut up on the way back.

Had a wander around Messina before getting back on the ship. Pleasant city with an amazing church. Wish we had more time here to explore a bit further and perhaps try out a few more local wines. Ship is heading to Athens tonight so I guess my broadband isn't going to work.

HK HIKING SEASON OFFICIALLY OPEN!

Paul and Kevin pictured at the end of a grueling hike on Lantau Island last week. I met Kevin while hiking the Heysen trail a few months ago. He mentioned he'd be passing though Hong Kong and I offered to take him for a short hike somewhere near the airport.

On the map the walk from Pak Gung Au (Tung Chung Road) to the Po Lin Monastery (big Buddha and cable car station) seemed like a pretty easy 5K hike. A good opportunity to induct Kevin into the great Hong Kong hiking we have hidden just behind all the shopping malls and high rise apartment buildings.

The first two kilometers was steep uphill all the way to Lantau peak (934 metres). Near the peak we walked into cloud cover and strong crosswinds. Was very hard to see and our easy hike turned into something a bit more difficult. Kevin, a septuagenarian, was in good spirits though and plugged on. We finally got to Lantau Peak and took a breather. Of course, it was just steep rocky steps all the way down but at least we could see where we were going when we emerged from the clouds.

Message to self: recon. the trail before taking visitors on an "easy" day hike.

SINGAPORE PREPAID MOBILE BROADBAND

One of the constant irritations of living the perpetual traveller (PT) lifestyle is getting gouged for internet access. Nothing has changed in Singapore with the Marriott charging a ridiculous $20 per day to connect.

Thankfully, the spread of prepaid mobile broadband is making it easier and cheaper to stay connected. This trip, a quick google search revealed that M1 have just launched a prepaid mobile broadband SIM card charging S$18 for 3 days unlimited access. On the Internet it said I could pick the card up at any Cheers convenience store or 7 Eleven. Checked out the Cheers at Changi airport but they didn't have any and the three 7 Elevens I visited on Scotts Road didn't have any either. One shopkeeper suggested I visit the M1 Store in the Paragon Mall on Orchard Road. Eventually found the place and picked up the SIM card (make sure you take your passport as everything has to be registered in Singapore)

Plugged the SIM card into my unlocked Vodafone HSDPA modem and it worked right away. Only glitch was with Skype - couldn't make any Sykpe voice calls. Perhaps M1 have blocked this?

Then, while attending the Singapore GP, I was handed a flyer advertising a Singtel prepaid mobile broadband SIM card. I grabbed one of these and plugged it in when the M1 card expired. Also worked right away and this time the Skype voice calls worked flawlessly. Both products new on the market so better off going straight to a M1 or Singtel shop. Should be widely available within a few months I guess. Being a big Sykpe fan I'd definitely go with the Singtel SIM prepaid mobile broadband next visit to Singapore.

*** Saw a brochure for Starhub prepaid mobile broadband in the window of a money changer inside the Changi airport (T1) transit lounge. Didn't get the chance to test this one out. Maybe next time. ***

COWARAMUP AND BACK

The irony about the Margaret River wine region is that most of the wineries and vineyards are not in Margaret River but in the area between Cowaramup and Yallingup - quite a bit north of Margaret River. Guess they choose the name of Margaret River because it's much easier to pronounce?

Noticed a rail trail on the map the tourist office gave me. Looking for one more decent hike before returning to HK tomorrow night, I decided to tackle the walk to Cowaramap and back - 27KM. Great trail which starts out in the forest around Margaret River. Three or four river crossings before the trail straightens out and runs parallel to the Bussell Highway going into Cowaramap.

Lovely cool spring weather with patches of sun and some light showers. You can almost feel how the vines would respond to such a gentle climate. Had a pretty good chicken and leek pastie in Cowaramap and then started the hike back. My legs were starting to ache pretty bad by the 20KM mark but I eased up and took a rest at all the outdoor seats along the way. Made it back around 3PM feeling tired but satisfied.