July, 2009: Orient Ferry. Slow Boat to China

It shouldn't come as a surprise that there are a anumber of international ferry services plying between Japan and her East Asia neighbours. Japan is after all, an island nation.

Japan Railway (JR) actually claims that they have an international line. This would sound absurb if you are imagining railway track over (or under) the Japan Sea from Japan to China or Korea. What the "JR Internationl Line" really is, is a high-speed hydrofoil ferry from Hakata to Busan in South Korea. I took this many years ago for a Hakata->Busan->Seoul trip. They even have a name for this ferry: the Beetle. And no, you can't use your JR rail pass on this service. Other than Beetle, there are others ferries plying S. Korea and China, mostly departing from ports in Kobe, Osaka, Hakata or Shimonoseki. I choose the Shimonoseki->Qingdao route mainly because it is the shortest jump across the Japan Sea. It takes about 27 hours, leaving Shimonoseki around noon, and arriving late in the afternoon in Qingdao, the next day. I couldn't imagine being on a ferry for more than one night, the fear is that I would run out of things to do.

For the Orient Ferry, however, the 27 hours seem to fly pass quite easily.
I started out by staying on the deck as the ferry put out of Shimoseki port, until Japan disappear behind the horizon and there are no more land in sight.

Next I while away some time settling down in the 'cabin' I shared with 15 others. It looks like most of them are Chinese. Some are on package tours to Kyushu (from the higher volume of their voice), some young Chinese (students, I assume). There is at least one young Japanaese chap (from the Chinese phrasebook he was carrying most time of his waking hours). There is one Caucasian (Australian, if I remember correctly), who I later realised speaks better Japanese than me. Actually on this international ferry it's not surprising to meet parents who speaks in Mandarin while they kids (I assume they are their kids) speaking Japanese.

After this, it's a little tour of this tiny-world that I will spend the next 20-plus hour. Some kids were having the same idea. They seems to better having great fun running along the narrow corridors as the ship rocks from side-to-side.
The ferry has facilities like satellite public phone....probably expensive to make calls. Surprising, there is even a Japanese-style bathroom. There is a duty-free shop and a vending machine corner.

There is even KTV hall that double up as movies theatre. I was about to 'retreat' to my sleeping mat when an annoucement came on that they are showing a movie. Seeing that it will take at least 1 over hour from my boredom, I went up to the KTV hall. It was an old movie with its locality in Shimonoseki, about a how a young recent widow trying to secure her share of her late husband's estate. It ends with her jumping off a cliff. Occasionally, the director throws in scenes of Shimonoseki, with emphasis that it is a fishing port. There are scene of fishmonger trading their catch on the early morning trains.

After the movie, it was almost time for dinner. The canteen serves both Chinese and Japanese meals. You pick your choice at the vending machine at the door and buy a ticket for the meal of your choice. Meals are nothing to shout about.

Later, after the dinner, I went back to the KTV hall. Fuelled by a bottle of QingDao beer, I pick up the courage to go to the front of the hall to belt out a few of my Chinese favourite. After that, it is time for bed. The next morning, some of the Chinese ladies serve as alarm clock. I was up before 9am, not really of my choosing. But anyway, there was no lack of things to do. There is TV on the lounge, a mini gym to visit, and socket to charge up my laptop. And hanging around the deck, lounge, vending machine is a good way to gather info on what to expect at Qingdao (like 'don't bother to get on a taxi, the public bus can get you from the ferry terminal to the city centre quite easily and cheaply'). There is also a mini library with books (mostly Japanese) left behind by previous passengers. It was a bit of surprise to find a book on MushashiNo.

I went for a late lunch at the vending machine corner, supplemented with a can of horsemeat from the dutyfree shop.

Right after lunch, sea weed can be seen floating on the sea. It looks like the same in news about seaweed booming which could have disrupted the Olympic races in Qingdao. I am sure land is getting closer.

As the port of QingDao comes into view, the passengers started to stir into activity: packing up their bags, sending it to the porters, enquiries of currency exchange and most important of all: photo-taking on the deck. The crew got everyone at the looby to take temperature as the H1N1 virus was going around.

I was worry about accomodation for the night since I have not made any reservation. But the worry went away as the ferry approaches the port, and signboards of several hotels were visible from the ship.

We docked more-or-less on time. The Qingdao custom was pretty efficient and friendly. They did want to do a thorough check of my lugguage, since it consist of quite a number of books and reading material. I beleive they were interested to see if there were any porn or "anti-communist" material. But after two smaller bags, and a box, they gave up and send me through into China.

I stepped out of the ferry terminal into a bright, sunny but cool afternoon.