Week 1

I did a half-assed journal while I was on the motor vessel Hanjin Praha from March 21st to April 4th. I went from Pusan, South Korea to Long Beach, California. You can find some more pictures here. Here is week 1.



March 21st
Picked up at Busan Station and driven to Pusan New Port (yes, they cannot decide how to spell their city). After breezing through customs and immigration I boarded the m/v Hanjin Praha.
Met the captain and chief engineer who are both German. Had lunch with them (meat and bean soup, sausage and vanilla pudding) and chatted for a bit.
Strolled around the port as the ship finished loading cargo. Had to wait 3 hours.
I am in “Empty Room B”. Lots of books and movies already in the room. There is a TV, VCR and DVD player. Most of the movies are action b-movies and the books are all spy or law thrillers.
Dinner was a huge fried pork cutlet, potato wedges and chopped cabbage. The captain invited me to the bridge to watch as we left port 1 hour late.

March 22nd
Big thunderstorm all night. Ship was rolling quite a bit. I am really happy that I brought motion sickness pills, they came in handy. Woke up late and missed breakfast.
Lunch was baked chicken, potato wedges, veggies and bean soup. Very Eastern European (the cook is Russian). The captain and I spoke a little about a lot. One thing he talked about was how Egyptian pilots (pilots are the ones who control the ship as it enters and leaves a port) give him the “heil Hitler”salut. They are quite happy that the German Army helped rid them of their British oppressors as well as the removal of the Jews.
The wind is howling(35-40mph) and the ship is rolling from side to side. My porthole faces the bow but I am getting zero wind into my room. If I stick my arm out the window it is difficult to keep steady in the stiff wind.
I see stars but not as clearly as I thought I would.
My compass says we are heading at a bearing of 24° NE, we must have rounded Kyuushu and are heading up to Osaka. We should arrive tomorrow at 5am. The captain will call me at 4:30am so I can be on the bridge when we dock.

March 23rd
Captain called at 4:35am to let me know we were approaching Osaka. We finally docked 4 hours later at 8:15am. It was slow going.
I ran down for a quick breakfast of beans and hotdogs.
Left Osaka at 2:00pm. Lunch was pork, potatoes and cabbage.
Trying to read nonfiction but can’t get into it. Chose a book at random from the ships library and came across this-
“The Internet?”
“Yeah,” she said dryly. “Kind of a computer thing. It’s all the rage.”
Time is moving too fast and killing my enjoyment of reading. I was reading Blood and Oil yesterday and the author was talking about the price of oil being $30 barrel.
Dinner was spaghetti with a Hungarian gulash for the sauce.
Sleep was nonexistent.

March 24th
Woke up at 6:30am to join the captain on the bridge as we entered Tokyo bay. After we docked I went to the roof of the bridge (the highest part of the ship) for some pictures. The captain forgot about me and locked me out. I had to climb down 8 stories of ladders/stairs.
Lunch-Stuffed peppers and potatoes
Dinner-Pork stew, mashed potatoes and cabbage
Saw Mt. Fuji as we left the channel. It’s the last bit of land I will see for the next 10+ days.

March 25th
Breakfast-“pancakes” with berry sauce
Lunch-Baked chicken and a load of French fries
Dinner-rice (made for the Asian crew members, have had too many potatoes) and tough beef
Felt off all day. Marginally seasick. Slept most of the day.

March 26th
Breakfast-eggs to order and greasy undercooked bacon
Lunch-fried porkchops, potatoes and chocolate ice cream
Dinner-cold cuts
Another sleepless night, the ship shudders a lot. I asked the captain about it but he had know idea what I was talking about. Maybe I am losing it.

March 27th
Missed breakfast. The ship moves the clocks forward at 2:00am every night since we left Tokyo. I woke up in time, but I was still on yesterday’s clock, so I actually missed it (does that make sense?)
Lunch-rice and fish
Did laundry.
Dinner-meat and potatoes