We are passing through the Paracels Islands as I type, heading for a waypoint at the eastern end of the Singapore Strait Traffic Scheme.  The temperature is rising, the wind is following and the sun is out, what a shame that, only 350 miles from Hong Kong, the weather was not as such there.  (My) tomorrow morning we will be paralleling the coast of Vietnam, our track taking us through the oil and gas fields which are located there; amongst it all will be the pesky fishing boats, I’m sure it will be a busy day.

The day has been full of inspections and meetings; I wish I had $5 for every signature I put to paper, today I have done so on approximately 130 pieces of paper, many of which were for our disembarking crew in Singapore and an immigration requirement.

We had approximately 250 guests join us in Hong Kong, so a reception for them this evening and an introduction of officers and staff will be in order, we do that in our Queen’s Lounge, the name for our ‘Show’ lounge.

While leaving Hong Kong, I took the opportunity to take some quick photos of those houses that were in yesterday’s post, the ones at Lei Yue Mun, however this time I put the telephoto lens on and as you can see, they’re actually on stilts! 

Lei Yue Mun

  Land for building in Hong Kong and Kowloon is at an acute shortage and therefore the blocks of apartments are tremendously high.  Many of them had their upper storeys  hidden in the clouds and mist. 

Earlier we passed a ferry, the colour of which had me reaching for the camera.  I’m pleased the ferries I worked on when crossing the English Channel weren’t the same.

The pink car ferry

Finally, a picture of Vi.

Vi, (looking furtive) 🙂