Asia 2008:
Day 12 - At Sea
Day 12 - At Sea
 |
Friday, April 4: We were moving from the Yellow Sea toward the East China Sea during our second consecutive day at sea. We passed dozens of fishing boats like this one flying the Chinese flag. |
 |
Today, we'll take you on a brief tour of ms Statendam. She looks a lot like her sister ship, ms Rotterdam, that we sailed in May 2007, but with some small differences. This is the pretty sculpture in the pool area on the Lido Deck. |
 |
This is the Sports Deck. The large white structure here is the retractable roof over the pool area. |
 |
This is the Lower Promenade Deck. |
 |
Here's the large fountain in the three-story atrium. |
 |
This is the bottom of the fountain ... |
 |
... and this is the ceiling above the fountain, which has very cool triangle glass and mirror detailing. |
 |
The Van Gogh Lounge is where shows were held and from where shore excursions departed. All of the walls in this lounge were tiled in the style of Van Gogh's Starry Night, and it was just beautiful. |
 |
Here is the glasswork detail on a ceiling next to the stairwell. |
 |
We love the various displays of gifts and plaques from port cities that have been visited. This one is from the port of Tokyo, and features a series of small kites. |
 |
This oil painting of ms Statendam graces another landing in one of the stairwells. |
 |
Back in our stateroom, we passed the time by working on this webpage and watching movies, such as "The Invasion," shown here. |
 |
As we moved further south, the balcony got warm enough to sit on for longer periods of time, as long as we wore our anoraks and had our travel blankets. It's highly relaxing to listen to the ocean go by in the privacy of your own balcony. |
 |
As the sun was setting, we got this cool shot of a ship in the middle of the sunbeam far in the distance. |
 |
Once it was dark, we found ourselves in a line of ships heading toward the Yangtze River that leads inland to the mouth of the smaller Huangpu River heading to Shanghai. We were flanked by a line of other ships so well lit up that it looked like we were looking at the lights of small cities on shore, when in fact we couldn't see the mainland. This ship was the Crystal Symphony, and she was headed to Shanghai for the same two days as us, where her fate and ours would be linked forever, or at least until Monday. |
Copyright © Deborah Schilling/Thomas Bundy