Pirate Press - Marathon madness edition

29 April 2005
Just ended the marathon madness run of KaoHsiung, Hong Kong and Shekou.

For those unaware of where this Shekou (meaning Snake Head in Chinese), itis a little north of Tuen Mun.From Shekou, one can see HK on a clear day, barely 30 minutes of steaming by sea.

Kaohsiung came, KaoHsiung gone. Amidst the trail of betel nuts spat-residue,I was unfortunate to be on duty, therefore my Taiwan visit as mentioned in an earlier entry came true, i.e. stuck on the ship.

So the half-bucket-Hokkien-speaking me was reduced to devouring the pastries brought onboard FOC by the agent. So much for the sights and taste ofTaiwan.

The port vicinity is that-ever-so Taiwanese; low level buildings clutteringthewaterline with brandishing neat Chinese signs over official buildings and the distinctive flavour of Hokkien hangs in the air.

The Taiwanese stevedores were as well, speaking in their lingua franca that makes them soTaiwanese.

Came Hong Kong, gone Hong Kong. Arrived in HK waters at 0330, crawled into bed at 0500 only to crawl out 45 mins later. Having no particular location to head out to and desperately in need of sleep, my afternoon in HK was spent in bed, listening in to the local airwaves on my mobile. Made the few calls here and there and tucked myself into dreamland.

It was a mad rush to Shekou, afterall it was only barely 2 hours later after standing down after departing HK at 0100, I crawled out of bed as usual to finish off for the night crawling back to bed at 0400 and again jolted outof bed, LATE for my duty at 0605.

Stepped ashore in a local's vehicle with his first question:
'Where are you from'
'Singapore'
'You want sexy girl, good sex and massage?'
'No, thanks'

- End of conversation -
The ride ended up in the shop of this driver, where there were a couple of dolled up, dressed up in revealing dresses gals came out of his shop.

The invisibile warning signs were all over - SKIP THIS PLACE.

I went along to another shop, sort of a rojak mix of karang-guni with Best Denki/ Harvey Norman,with the self-proprietorship shops in Chinatown or Serangoon. Electronics were indeed pretty cheap, that said after looking around the scene of pirated authentic electrical items are stacked up one upon the other. There were Penasonic, Sonic etc etc... you get my drift.

With tired soles and legs, my aching physique was more in need of a pairwell-trained hands than the earlier offer. A 50 yuan (SGD 10) for 2 hours did wonders for my aching legs. Some might be wondering where did I get all sore and tired from.

Here are some explanations:
My ship is 323 m long, from end to end.
That is 6 swimming 50m pools, placed end to end, with a breath across of 42m; barely touching the 50m mark again.

One walk from forward to the stern (aft part) takes a good 3-4 min at slowpace.
Multiply this by an estimate of 10-15 walks in 1 hr and multiply this again by 12 hrs and you probably can understand why I seem to walk faster than most people when on shore.
Add in the factor of a very lousy pair of hard-rubbered cheap-skate safety shoes and you would understand my predicatement for crying out loud.

323 * 20 = 6460m
6460* 12 = 77520m
77520m = 77 km (approximate)
77km * 3 days = Very sore legs and aching soles. :(

Of course, all figures must be taken with a pinch of salt. Afterall it is an estimate of how much I have to walk. Period.

At this point of time of entry, the ship is already steaming full towards SG
and I can get better reception on the shortwave band, listening to Capital958.
It is THE only source of news I can get while in the open waters. In case some are curious,
I can get faint reception when in the Pacific and thereception is already getting better off the coast of Vietnam.

So much for now. Pay day tomorrow! Yippy!