HONG KONG-THERE AND BACK

Pinoy Boat Yard
Port Carmen,Cebu
Philippines

Kathy and I have just returned from one of the few land adventure trips that we take. Our visit to Hong Kong was quite an adventure. We departed from here in the boat yard on Monday to spend the night in a hotel near the airport as our flight was in the early morning hours. Monday was also the day that typhoon UTOR made landfall on the northern Philippine island of Luzon packing 200 plus kilometers per hour winds or 120 mph. This was far north of us and posed no problem but was crossing Luzon and heading toward our destination of Hong Kong though scheduled to arrive after us.

Our flight left on time for the slightly more than two hour flight. We arrived through the clouds with no view of the city. first was exchanging some money to Hong Kong dollars, basically 7 HK $ to 1 US $. Next it was to figure out how to use the rapid transit system or MRT to get from the airport in to the city and our hotel. The MRT was very similar to the one we had used extensively in Singapore which was a big help. Only a slight mistake was made getting off the MRT one stop to soon but after some direction by a helpful MRT person we made a short walk through the rain to our hotel. Checked in though as we were early our room was not ready. Our baggage was left, two small backpacks, and we were off to look about and have some lunch. The rain was continuing along with wind. Lunch was found at a local eatery. The menu was all in Chinese so we pointed to pictures of what we wanted. One young employee spoke enough English to tell me
what I ordered was beef with noodles not pork. Lunch was OK and we both managed with the chop sticks but for a basic noodle shop not cheap at a little over ten dollars US. We were soon to find that very little is inexpensive in Hong Kong. As the rain and wind continued we made our way back to the hotel. We asked about internet and found in the hotel it was $20 US for a 24 hour period!! Hey it's free at the Starbucks across the street but they only allow you 20 minutes a day. Kathy bit the bullet and we could now be connected. As "UTOR" continued to make it's way toward us crossing the North China sea we spent the afternoon lounging about our room, quite nice on the 18th floor with a city view. During our stay it was a view of the clouds racing by and rain pelting down. dinner was at the hotel, they had a great looking buffet but at $50 US per person we declined staying with the regular menu but still it was $50 for the two of us. Kathy had a chicken Ceasar {sp} salad and I a barbecued pork dish.

Wednesday morning I was off early to visit Starbucks for my morning caffeine intake. Back in the hotel I noticed the message board regarding "UTOR", still headed our way but not a direct hit. The weather officials had hoisted signal flag 8 meaning winds above 63 kilometers/hour or 38 miles/hour. Later when Kathy and I headed down to Starbucks for breakfast we asked what could be done during the day under typhoon watch. The answer was stay in the hotel as no buses or taxi's were running, most stores and all the shopping malls were closed and if the wind warning increased the MRT would close. So after a bite to eat and a short walk it was back to our room.

Later in the day the wind warning dropped to 3, the order is 1, 3, 8, 9, 11 sounds odd to us but!!! Off we went for a ride on the MRT and to see some of the area. We did walk around in some of the market areas but about 85% of things were closed.

Thursday our flight was to be at 0940 so we were off to the MRT at it's opening of 0600 and headed back to the airport and the Philippines. All went smoothly on our return and after a stop at a Cebu mall for some groceries we were back aboard by 1700.

Kathy and I have decided that we truly do not enjoy big cities. The trip had some interesting moments but I can now add Hong Kong to the list of cities I've visited and have no desire to return to.

You'll notice that I am posting this through our email provider as the internet here is poor. I hope to add photos if our connection improves

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TYPHOON TRACK

EMPTY STREETS

READY TO BOARD THE TRAIN

THE STALLS ARE CLOSED

PEOPLE STARTING TO MOVE

HERE IN HONG KONG MY FAVORITE

KEEPING BUSY RAINY SEASON

Pinoy Boat Yard
Port Carmen, Cebu
Philippines

We have started another day here with liquid sunshine falling from the sky. Not the "cats and dogs" type rain but steady. Hey it is the rainy season. We are fortunate in that the work we have underway is all on the inside of the boat. There are others here who are trying to have outside paint jobs done and the weather is definitely not cooperating.

The wood siding in the v-berth has been finished, except for perhaps another coat of varnish or two. Esmer, the carpenter, spent several days completing it along with the trim pieces. With the trim in place the headliner looks a bit better, still not good but better. Of course after the trim was fitted it was then taken down again for sanding and varnishing which Calvin is doing on the land side work area.

Kathy has not gotten involved in to much actual work since returning from the states but spends a great deal of time supervising both me and our workers. She has also undertaken the job of keeping their work area clean. Her next project is more sewing. Covers need to be made for our new saloon and cockpit tables. We are having the people from Hyde Sails redo our cockpit cushions and Kathy has already planned to visit their loft to keep an eye on their completion.

Next we are looking forward to a trip to Hong Kong. Since Kathy's arrival back in the Philippines she got a 21 day visa which we would then have extended out to a total of 59 days. The problem is that she and I would then be on different 59 day rotations and need to head off to immigration for extensions at different times. To solve that we will take a short side trip to Hong Kong and then both visas will be in sync. Since I have been here in the Philippines longer than six months I require an exit visa to leave. Now this cannot be done simply at the airport but requires a trip to the main immigration office in Mandaue as suburb of Cebu city. Great fun!! First a one and a half hour bus trip, 50 pesos. At immigration one must wear appropriate attire, long pants, collared shirt and no flip flops or slippers as they are referred to here. Out front sweat pants and tennis shoes are rented for those that don't comply. For the exit visa 3 photos are needed, that also can be taken care of just outside the door, 150 pesos. Inside the first line is to receive the proper form to fill out, once done it's checked and then you head back outside to find the notary and lawyer for the signing of the form and have several copies made of both the form and various pages of your passport, this time 156 pesos. Back inside to the original desk to have the forms checked again and then you take then to another window. That persons looks at them again and you are sent of to the receiving station where everything is left and you proceed to sit. Your name is called and you then take the papers to the cashier, 500 pesos and you return the papers to receiving and sit again. Time passes and your called once again this time for two thumb prints. Sit again and on the next call you are cleared to leave the country. Now if you do not have the proper papers and you show up at the airport you do not pass go or board your plane but are sent to Mandaue immigration for the correct documents. On leaving immigration my first stop was to find a cold beer and then taxi to the bus terminal for the return bus ride back to Port Carmen.

We are now looking ahead to a short time away from the boat.

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HEADLINER HEADACHE

Pinoy Boat Yard
Port Carmen, Cebu
Philippines

This is being composed on our new tablet while we have taken the bus in to the big city of Cebu staying in a hotel for the night to enjoy some shopping and airconditioning. I 'm not to sure how my fingers are going to manage to type  on the mini keyboard or how the photo loading will work but the speed here is much better than in the boat yard

Work continues and the best part is that Kathy has returned home to keep me focused.
One of my projects during her absence was to replace the vinyl headliner in the v-berth that is undergoing a complete re-do. I managed to remove the old without difficulty. New foam and vinyl was purchased. It sounded simple to glue the new back to the overhead. NOT!!! This was very difficult and when completed looked TERRIBLE!!! The decision was made to just get it finished so we could move on. At some time in the future we could get some professional help, for now we could live with the wrinkles in "the garage". Three days after completion new disaster reared it's head. The recommended spray on adhesive failed in several area. I have now just made repairs using contact cement. Imagine several hours spent in a very small area. After several hours of glue sniffing the job was completed. I may have lost a few extra brain cells but for now the new overhead vinyl is in and the rest of the v-berth can now be completed.

Now we'll try for photos

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