We lost an hour of sleep last night due to our clocks being set forward to Japan's time zone. That coupled with me staying up until 1:30am reading the last part of a spy novel led to a short night of sleep. But it was nice to wake up to a clear view of the sun after 6 days of fog and smog in Shanghai and Beijing.
Jeremy gave his upcoming ports of call talk for the next 3 ports of call and it was once again excellent. The Mariner's award reception followed and for the second time in a row there were no complimentary nuts due to the anti-norovirus procedures which were still in effect all day today. After lunch we attended the BBC trivia game show and because one couple declined to participate, we volunteered at the last minute to fill in. We ended up winning the contest, but due to technical difficulties with the equipment, all of the teams received a free dinner at the Pinnacle Grill. Even though we've seen the game show many times, it's much harder to be up on stage in front of people on a moving ship and retain one's composure.
Master Kam gave his second presentation on Buddhism with a few minutes spent on the empty high rises we saw all around Tianjin. In summary it was the product of a failed Chinese policy to move people from the rural areas to the city. He noted that many of the buildings have been vacant so long since being built that they are being torn down.
Since it was a pretty nice day, we went up to the Crow's Nest and watched the open and wavy seas ahead of us. About 4pm, a Costa Cruise ship passed by us going the opposite direction which indicated to us that they must be heading for Tianjin.
It was Gala night and we enjoyed a nice dinner in the Main Dining Room with a couple from Vancouver, BC before watching the day's movie "Roman Israel, Esq". We concluded the night by watching Katei, the Australian rock violinist we saw earlier in the cruise. He performed exactly the same show as before Before turning in for the night, we strapped our feed bags on for a late night snack in the LIDO Market.
We have one more day at sea before reaching Japan. Stay tuned.
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