Papua New Guinea,
Philippine Islands,
and Hong Kong
DAYS 53-62 – We are making our way northward from Australia to Hong Kong, once again crossing back over the equator on February 28th. We have already logged more than 17,000 nautical miles on our journey! (Day 55 on March 1st was the half-way point of our trip.)
The Coral Sea separates Australia from the large island of Papua New Guinea, and it is really just a short distance away from Australia. Our cruise itinerary, however, took us around the close southern point of the island to the eastern coastline and the absolutely charming port of Madang.
The island of New Guinea is divided almost right down the middle between Indonesian rule on the west and British protectorate government on the east. Nearly 80% of the people living in Papua New Guinea enjoy a very happy, simple lifestyle in small villages encircled by lush banana and mango trees, coconut palms, fishing areas, and cocoa plantations; they have schools, hospitals, and all of the basic necessities for enjoyable lives.
It seemed the entire Madang community lined the streets, all waving, upon our arrival. Native dancers and music greeted our cruise ship as we pulled in at the dock. The rough village roads led us to the homes of some of the happiest people we’ve ever seen, all smiling and waving as we traveled about in the islanders’ locally-owned non-air-conditioned vans. The children are irresistible. Larry and I both thought if we closed our eyes we would think we were right back in the heart of Africa, as the villagers’ homes and life styles were very, very similar.
The men and women (many ladies are topless) have frequent drum-accompanied traditional tribal dances in the PNG villages. Blink your eyes and you feel you are in the African continent thousands of miles away.
Manila, Philippines is totally intriguing! We were impressed with the huge number of 60-story buildings (maximum due to earthquakes) and the contemporary shopping centers that seemed to go on forever with all of our familiar American and European brands of clothing, shoes, cosmetics, and other drugstore items. We arrived on March 4th and spent two days in Manila.
Manila Bay is a huge ferry terminal for the 1,703 islands that make up the Philippine Islands. Ferry boats make hundreds of trips day and night to get people back and forth from islands into Manila’s city center.
Horses! I jumped at the opportunity to take a ride in this horse cart drawn by a Spanish-bred bay gelding at one of the Manila parks. It was wonderful to hear the clop-clop of horseshoes again…I am in the cart with a friend we met from Florida who is on the cruise ship with us.
There is extreme wealth and extreme poverty side by side within the Manila central city areas. We drove to the presidential palace estate area to have an unforgettable lunch at the historic home of one of Manila’s founding Spanish-reign families, and this area was completely surrounded by makeshift homes that looked like they could collapse at any moment…such a contrast!
We had a sobering visit to the second largest American memorial cemetery for World War II soldiers killed in battles in these island areas…it left me in tears…the white marble crosses went on forever for 152 acres. The additional alphabetical lists of soldiers’ names that were missing in action were engraved on many huge walls; they were from states all over America and this clearly took my breath away…literally thousands of names.
On the bright side, I also had tears in my eyes when our ship’s Philippine crew members, over 200 of the 600 on board, were able to see their families while we were in port in Manila for two days. Some had not seen their wives or held their babies that had been born while they were working the past months on our ship. Some of the Philippine staff members brought their families on board to proudly show them where they worked. You cannot find more adorable, beautiful babies and smiling children anywhere in the world!
Here are a few of our Philippine crew members anxiously peering over the ship’s third floor Promenade railing to see their family members for the first time in many months.
Philippine dancers, marching bands with twirlers, saluting Coast Guard men in uniform, and many locals gave us a fantastic welcome upon our arrival, and as our visit ended, there were more bon voyage performances and festivities held for us on the dock.
Here is our ship’s captain giving a loving farewell group hug to some of the crew’s Philippine family members who came down to the dock to release their bon voyage balloons… and then, as the captain blew the ship’s very loud three long horn blasts signaling our departure from the harbor, we reluctantly sailed away.
Our ship arrived in Hong Kong harbor at 6:00 a.m. in the morning on March 7th. Hong Kong’s 7 million people (and 8,000 taxi cabs!) are now governed by the People’s Republic of China, since the transition from British rule in the late 1990’s. Hong Kong’s famed harbor contains 2 large islands that are now connected by huge tunnels built in 1972 that are 70 feet below the water’s surface. This world-renowned harbor is ringed by high rise buildings; the tallest, currently, is 118 stories high.
While the mist and fog from a rain the night before began to lift, we took an amazing ride on a cog-wheeled train up to the top of one of the high mountains surrounding Hong Kong harbor to get a bird’s eye view of this overwhelming harbor area. The train was climbing a dizzying 45-degree angle the entire 5 km way, stopping several times to pick up more passengers. Needless to say, we were hoping the track cogs would hold us from crashing down to the bottom of the mountain! Below is the hazy view that was the payoff for this magnificent train ride:
The sun soon came out and we took a ride in the Hong Kong (Victoria) Harbor on a sampan and discovered the world’s largest floating restaurant, partially seen above through the bow of our sampan. The restaurant was named “Jumbo”…it had seating for 2,000 guests!
The glamorous shopping for the more affluent Hong Kong residents and world tourists stretches for miles and miles, dwarfing Rodeo Drive in Hollywood. Glimmering shopping malls with marble floors and stores with famed designer clothing, cosmetics, shoes and more, are within one block of our ship’s dock. (I have a feeling many guests on our cruise ship left quite a few of their dollars here in Hong Kong!) Everywhere in Hong Kong the streets and buildings are impeccably clean and the people are extremely courteous, friendly, and helpful.
This photo, not in perfect focus due to the night skies, gives you a glimpse of the spectacular nightly light show in Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbor. Brilliant green laser lights, sky lights, and undulating magical colors are displayed by hundreds of high rise office buildings. The light show is all synchronized to dramatic symphony music played in various locations over loud speakers all along the harbor... heard and seen for an unforgettable 15 minutes starting at 8:00 p.m. year round.
This light show, a grand finale of our 2-day Hong Kong visit, will long be remembered as a highlight of our voyage. We now sail on to Ho Chi Minh City((Phy My),Vietnam and Singapore.
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