May 19, 2004
I didn't really know what to expect for my first cruise trip... but definitely not a bad weather and a throng of people. Well, it was drizzling, and there was news of a typhoon and long lines of people going through immigration. What were all these people doing cruising? Don’t they have jobs they need to attend to?
After the immigration, we make our way to the boat amidst ladies wearing belly-baring Las Vegas-style costumes that get their picture taken with every single passenger, and Skipper Penguin the mascot.
And then we ARE on the cruiser. After dumping our luggage in the cabin, we were off to explore every nook and cranny of this 19-tonner Starfleet. Okay, it has eight decks, two casinos -- one for VIP members, and one that's free-for-all, two restaurants on the 4th and 6th floors (this information I didn’t get from the brochures, I actually explored the place). The restaurant on the 4th floor is semi-formal where you get your meal served on your table with buffet dessert and beverage, while the one on the 6th floor is wholly buffet style. There’s a small store where you buy stuff, and a sports bar with a small stage where they hold shows. The 8th deck had a spa room, a mini outdoor gym, an outdoor swimming pool at 1.6m deep and two Jacuzzi pools. Hmm… is there anything else I'm forgetting?
Night one was spent having dinner and trying to catch some shows. First were the Chinese contortionists. It was kind of unnerving to see these two girls, who I’m sure still have a complete set of backbone and spine, and intact too I bet, slithering around like snakes, almost literally, over, under, and on top of one another, you actually wonder at one point where they begin and where they end. They bend forward and backward like they were all skin and no bones. And they do it so artistically too.
Then the belly-baring ladies are back, still baring their bellies, with belly-baring gents this time, in one of their dance numbers. They were lively and colorful, complete opposite of the Contortionists.
We went out to the outside deck just in time to actually see the boat leave the dock and deeper into the dark sea at night.
And then it hit me, as subtle as vodka and yet just as effective. Boy, did I feel woozy. What it was I didn’t know. All I know was it left a not-quite-so welcome feeling in my tummy. Fatigue was winning me over so I decided to skip the casino and enjoy the comforts of my cabin.
Day two. Still woozy. I wondered how my baby niece could sleep a lot better when she’s being slightly swayed. It certainly didn’t work for me. I woke up about every hour because of the swaying of the cruiser. Dawn broke and we got up pretty early to be the first ones at breakfast. I had some of the swaying left in my tummy from the night before, and halfway through breakfast something told me to run for our cabin, as fast as my two legs would carry me. I barely had time to put up the toilet bowl cover when I started puking all of my inners out.
Having done that, I felt a bit better enough to return to breakfast.
And then we reach Okinawa.
Spending five hours on a small island where being a fluent English speaker isn’t at all beneficial, it feels a bit like Amazing Race, getting around the entire island and back to the cruiser in 5 hours. Fun. We didn’t have any competitors. Fun-ner.
It was quite hard to find something authentically Japanese in Okinawa because everything there, except for the food and wordings, all seem imported from either Thailand or Hawaii -- tie-dyed sarong, island-printed shirts and hats. It was clean though, and quiet, something I expected of the Japanese. After a ramen lunch and Japanese ice cream, and a leisurely walk around the area, it was time to make our way back to the dock. Five hours on land. Yet, for every minute of that five hours, I felt I was still on the boat.
Barely a third into the trip back, I was back running to and from anywhere in the cruiser to the toilet. After two attempts at dinner, which aggravated my already-sick tummy, I decided to give up. And the food they served that night was really mouth-watering too. Sadness.
Day three. The night passed fairly well. After a good night’s sleep, I was pretty sure it was going to be an okay day for me. No sick tummies this day. I attacked breakfast like I wasn’t fed for a day. Oh yeah, I wasn’t. After breakfast, we tried to catch the napkin folding show, and the fruit carving show. There was also a fashion show, but they were all over before you knew it.
And then we're back on Taipei land. I've never been happier to set foot on land, literally. I never thought I’d be seasick... but then, being able to feel the oh-so-teeniest and oh-so-slowest sway of the boat... and actually being able to tell which way it was swaying, I have a perfectly acceptable excuse for creating a mess. It was definitely an experience.
