CATHAY PACIFIC 
The Business Class seats from Hong Kong to Melbourne were very nice! This was a new aircraft with each business class "compartment" facing the aisle. Very much like Virgin Atlantic. Although I found the comparment very narrow, the seat and foot rest do lie fully flat. The leg rest is separate to your seat which is great as you can put your feet up while taking off and landing. The food, service and entertainment options were first class! I wish the flight was longer so I could sample some more of the amazing flavours!

HONG KONG
Beautiful skyscrapers, diverse weather and stunning by night! Our private car transfer took 30mins at 6am. (The train takes 24mins to the Harbour City stop in Kowloon). We stayed at the Eaton Hotel which is situated half way between Harbour City and Mongkok along Nathan Road on Kowloon. The hotel's rates are quite high due to this location. The rooms are tiny, barely room to swing a cat, let alone a couple of suitcases! Ranni and I could have held hands while lying in our beds. The lobby and general service was all very good. Concierge spoke good English and gave us some great ideas for dinner. Location wise, I would prefer to be either up in Mongkok for the markets or close to the Harbour for the shopping arcades, great views and huge food choices!

We spent a night at the Regal Airport Hotel on our way back to Melbourne. This is about a 5min walk from the arrivals hall within the airport. The rooms are spacious and the service was excellent.

HALF DAY TOUR
It was unfortunate that it decided to rain today! We were struggling to see the buildings across on Hong Kong Island. The tour took us to the Island through one of the many tunnels. This perhaps should have been scheduled around 10am instead of 9am as we hit the end of peak hour and lost a lot of time in traffic. The tram up to Victoria Peak is an amazing ride, but totally covered in cloud and no visibility. Onto the Stanley Markets, driving around Causeway Bay was again, poor visability, but the markets were good and easy to get around in. We also had a 20min boat ride to see where the houseboats are located in the harbour.

RHAPSODY OF THE SEAS, ROYAL CARIBBEAN - HONG KONG - SHANGHAI
After sailing on Legend of the Seas in Nov 2000, this ship was a little disappointing. I felt as though it needed some minor refurbishment to update the rooms. It was surprising to have a big crack in our bathroom basin for example. We had an outside cabin on deck 4. The cabin felt bigger than the Eaton Hotel room so space wasn't an issue. However, the minibar consisted of no fridge! The drinks were on the desk! Yes, we could go and get ice any time we wanted to from the bar, but it still was inconvenient. Our Royal Caribbean guide - Leonie had organised drinks to be included as part of our trip. This entitled us to house red or white wine, beer and soft drinks. This can be gained for free the more times you sail with Royal Caribbean. The 2 night cruise from Hong Kong to Shanghai did not call into any ports along the way. The weather was either drizzling or overcast and quite cool! So we didn't spend any time by the pool or even outdoors much! We did watch some in house movies on the tiny 30cm tv. We also inspected the kitchen galleys, the bridge and a few suites. The food preparation is extraordinary and massive! The bridge was very interesting, the captain was very welcoming despite there being a lot of traffic in the area and of course - unbeatable views!! The suites were very spacious, and looked quite modern. The Royal Suite was vacant on our cruise, but was full for the next
7 night cruise ex Shanghai. In fact, the agents joining in Shanghai were all having inside cabins. The food was surprisingly average. We had dinner in the main "Edelweiss" dining room (deck 4) which is al a carte, but I was unimpressed. The food was barely 3 star rating. Ranni & I had breakfast in Edelweiss on the first morning. Our Eggs Benedict tasted more sweet than savoury! From then on we ate in the buffet style "Windjammer Cafe" located on deck 9 for lunch and breakfast. This food tasted much fresher and a huge choice was on offer. Entertainment on the ship was limited to average "shows", the casino or lounges with no one about. Perhaps with more passengers on board, the ship might have been more exciting? We booked in to have a spa treatment when we first boarded and this was quite good. It was unfortunate that for the price charged it wasn't excellent! Overall, I wouldn't recommend the 2 night cruise, but I think the 7 night cruise ex Shanghai to Korea, Cheju Island and Japan has a definite place in the market. Oceanview cabins from only $999. This is great value!

SHANGHAI
What an exciting city! Very western, quite clean and a beautiful skyline! The cruise docked about 1hr out of the city. The buses dropped us at an odd location in the city, near nothing! If it wasn't for our private car transfer to our hotel, we would have had to drag our suitcases approx 200 metres to the nearest public area and hailed a taxi. As this was the first Cruise ship to dock in Shanghai, I'm sure this will change for next year's season. We stayed at the Radisson which is a stunning hotel located about 50m from the BUND. This is a walking street filled with shops in the city's centre. The BUND is about twice the width of the Bourke street mall and approx 2kms long. I like the fact that you can get picked up out the front on your hotel. If you were located within the BUND area, you would need to use a lot of the back streets to get to your hotel. On the 47th floor of the Radisson, the Skydome has great views of the city's skyline. The Epicure Restaurant on the 45th floor has 360 degree views of the city being a revolving restaurant! Our room had a huge bathroom with a separate shower, spa bath and king single beds. Service was very good, breakfast was a huge selection and the pool and business centre were also very good. Shanghai was very busy while we were there as the Friday was a public holiday. Like our guide said, when 1.3 billion people are on holiday, it will get busy!

We visited the Jade Buddha Temple as part of our half day tour. It was filled with monks, lots of incensing burning and very crowded, but also very spiritual. We walked around the old city which has lots of stalls, places to eat and just a great place to stroll around. We took the Maglev train from Shanghai to the Airport. The station was an approx 20min drive from our hotel. This is the downside and the reason why most people do not use the service. However, they are expecting to extend the line into the BUND area by the end of the year. For only CNY50 (less
than $10) it is an amazing ride!! The train gets up to 431kms/hr and the 30km journey only takes 7 mins! English is widely spoken, but taxi drivers need to have the destination written in Chinese. Taxis are very cheap, but unless you speak Mandarin they are tricky to negotiate. I would like to go back to Shanghai and spend some time just wandering the streets and of course more shopping!