With our Minion Family cruise and travel through Asia complete. The Sister shares her thoughts on this trip. It’s always great when you have the opportunity to travel with family and getting a different family member’s perspective is always interesting! If you’ve spent any time to read my blog through this region, Thank You! Alternatively if you have not but would like to, you can check out the whole trip here. Or check out my own wrap up here.
The Sister’s Top 3 Highlights
While we visited a lot of incredible places, my highlights for this trip seemed to skew toward encounters and interactions rather than stops and sights.
Highlight #1: Friendly Cruising!
My first highlight was meeting and getting to know people on the cruise ship. This was the longest cruise I’d ever been on (14 days) and I wasn’t sure how I would like it. Turns out, I really did not mind being on a ship for that long (having a balcony room doesn’t hurt either). The other perk of having such a long cruise is you start to recognize and form connections with other guests and staff. There were many fellow cruisegoers and crewmembers that we would talk with every day and look forward to seeing. It made the cruise so meaningful and fun.
Highlight #2: Fukuoka
Another highlight was in Fukuoka. After getting off the ship for the day, our family took a taxi to Ohori park. During that 20-minute or so ride, I had a relatively lengthy conversation in Japanese with the taxi driver. I was so surprised at myself for pulling this off. I have been studying Japanese very casually for the past number of years, but my conversation skills have always been my weakest area. I didn’t have much self-confidence and I’d often be paralyzed with anxiety whenever I had to speak with someone. But being able to carry on a conversation with someone, albeit a very simple and rudimentary one, was very encouraging and affirming.
Highlight #3: Shanghai
My third highlight was visiting Shanghai for the first time in more than 10 years and having dinner with my dad’s cousins and relatives. I couldn’t understand anything that was spoken since everything was in Mandarin or Shanghainese, but when you have good food, ample drink, and great vibes, you don’t need much else to communicate. The best part of the evening was seeing my Dad in his element among his relatives. It was obvious he loved being back in his home town.
Bonus Highlight
A mini bonus highlight was the morning after our first night in the cruise in the port of Shimizu. As it was still early on in the trip, I was pretty jetlagged so woke up just as the sun was rising. I stepped out onto our balcony to watch the sunrise, turned left, and there was Mt. Fuji in all its glory. That moment alone made getting a balcony room worth it. Later on that day, the clouds rolled in and completely obscured Mt. Fuji from view so it made that moment in the morning all the more special.
Favourite Meal
There wasn’t a single meal that stood out for me on this trip, but there were a lot of really memorable bites and food experiences. One of the best bites I had on the trip was this mochi mentaiko mini pizza from a bakery in Yokohama the day we were leaving on the cruise. I had never seen something like that and it was so so delicious.
One of the most memorable food experiences I had on the trip was visiting a coffee shop and roastery in Busan called Cafe Bubu, run by this beautiful husband and wife couple. We just randomly found it because I was looking on Google Maps for nearby coffee shops with high star ratings. The shop was so aesthetic and seemed like something out of a Korean drama, with star-crossed lovers literally feeding each other forkfulls of cake and K-Pop music videos playing from the projector onto the wall. The wife took our order at the till and she was so kind, lovely, and spoke perfect English. The coffee was great and the Earl Grey cake, sweet potato cake, and souffle cheesecake we had were delicious as well.
Another memorable meal was on our last night when we ate at Coral Cafe — pretty much a food court-esque Hong Kong style cafe. But I was shocked at how extensive and varied their menu was! We all got different things and the food was good. My brother got a claypot rice, my parents shared a tofu and chicken hot pot with a side of a whole fish, and I had my own individual hot pot. I loved it!
If I could change the itinerary…
Having such a front-loaded, port-intensive itinerary was exhausting. The first week of the cruise was a port nearly every day. It did not help that shortly after the cruise started, I caught a cold. While it would have been wiser to stay on the ship to rest, when you only have one day in the port, you feel a lot of pressure to explore it and make the most of your time there. So if I could change the itinerary I think I would keep it the same, but have an extra sea day in between the stops during the Japan part of the trip.
What surprised me?
I was surprised by how much I enjoyed China and how much I wanted to return. It had been over 10 years since I had visited and it did not leave a great impression on me. It felt dirty, not very modern, and the people seemed rude and unclassy. While the toilet situation still isn’t up to Japan’s standards, everything else seemed to be the complete opposite of my previous experience. There is, of course, a lot of historical and traditional architecture, but there are also so many modern buildings, neighbourhoods, and shops. And the people we met were kind and very proper. I’ve been hearing a lot of people enjoy China after visiting and I can now see why. I’d love to go back and explore more.
One memorable story from this trip
During our stop in Shanghai, my dad had made plans to have dinner with his cousins and relatives. The restaurant was supposedly in the historic Yuan Garden area, but when we arrived all the entrances into the area were blocked off because of the lantern festival and you had to pay to enter. This was a bit concerning because the restaurant we were going to was inside. But then my Dad talked to one of the security people stationed at the entrance and told him we had a reservation at a restaurant and he immediately directed us in. It felt so VIP. When we got to the restaurant, we were ushered to one of the top floors into a gorgeous private room that had windows that opened out into the courtyard, giving us an amazing vantage point over the lantern festival. On one of the walls of the room was a plaque with Bill Clinton’s face on it…because he apparently dined at this restaurant and enjoyed it? Bill Clinton’s face was definitely not something I was expecting during this dining experience. Another thing I wasn’t expecting was that one of my Dad’s relatives brought their dog, Dobby, to the restaurant and that was completely okay. Dobby was adorable and his mom wheeled him in in his carrier. He was free to roam around the room and spent a lot of the evening sitting quietly on a chair next to his mom. Aside from Dobby, the free entrance to the Yuan Garden area, Bill Clinton’s face on the wall, and the great view of the lantern festival, the food at the restaurant was also very interesting and unlike the usual Shanghainese food I have here. It was a really interesting and unique experience!
Did I pack appropriately?
I thought I packed pretty well for this trip! There were some days that were really warm and some that were really cold. So while I didn’t always wear the right thing for the temperature each day, I had the right clothes in my suitcase 😅I did bring an outfit for the formal night on the ship but we only ended up going to the dining room for dinner once so I only wore it once. I’m also glad I brought my workout gear as we did end up using the gym a few times, unlike past cruises.
Regrets?
One regret was that we didn’t have as much time to explore some of the cool neighbourhoods in Shanghai that my Dad’s relatives introduced us to. My other regret was that we only discovered Coral Cafe on our last night in Hong Kong and did not eat there more.
Advice for people considering similar trips/destinations?
If you have a port-intensive cruise, I would say to be realistic about your energy levels and how tired you will be, especially if the ports are back to back. Also, if you can afford it, having a balcony on this itinerary was great. We had some really great moments on the balcony: seeing Mt. Fuji, watching the welcome and departure presentations at the Japanese ports, and just stepping out for some fresh air. The other piece of advice I’d give is to consider visiting China! I had a lot of preconceived notions and biases before and a lot of them have been dispelled. I look forward to returning and exploring more!
Final thoughts?
I loved all the different components of this trip: I loved being able to spend a few days in Yokohama first before the cruise. I haven’t spent that much time in Yokohama in the past and I really liked it. I’d consider staying there instead of Tokyo in future trips to Japan!
I also loved the two-week-long cruise. It really felt like you could settle in, enjoy the ship, and establish a routine. There was no pressure to try to eat all the things or do all the activities because you only had seven days. There was lots of time to try everything and I really appreciated that.
And then it was nice to round off the end of the trip with a few chill days in Hong Kong. This trip really opened my eyes to other places in Asia that I’d want to return to besides Japan. I’d love to be able to explore more of China, areas of Korea that aren’t Seoul, and to spend more time in Hong Kong!
