Empire Shores of East Asia

Hong Kong is one of the great cities of Asia and three nights here before boarding Azamara Quest gives genuine time to absorb it properly. Your hotel is located downtown in the heart of the city and the contrast between the gleaming towers of the financial district and the ancient temples, wet markets and fishing villages of the older neighbourhoods is immediately apparent. Victoria Peak gives the finest panoramic view of the harbour and the city at any time of day, and the Star Ferry crossing between Hong Kong Island and Kowloon for a few dollars is the finest value harbour crossing in the world. The Temple Street Night Market in Kowloon, the Sheung Wan dried seafood and herbal medicine quarter and the Man Mo Temple in Sheung Wan are all within easy reach on the first evening.

A full day in Hong Kong and the city reveals its extraordinary depth for those willing to move beyond the famous views. The Aberdeen Fishing Village on the south side of Hong Kong Island, where a community of boat-dwelling fishing families has maintained a way of life largely unchanged for generations, is accessible by bus and gives a completely different perspective on the city’s relationship with the sea. Lantau Island, connected by MTR and cable car, holds both the giant Tian Tan Buddha and the old fishing village of Tai O, where houses stand on stilts above the tidal channels. The Sheung Wan Dried Food and Herbal Market is worth a morning’s exploration before a dim sum lunch at any of the traditional cha chaan teng tea houses that populate the older neighbourhoods

A final morning in Hong Kong before this afternoon’s transfer to the port. The Kowloon side of the harbour, less visited than Hong Kong Island by most tourists, rewards the morning: the Yau Ma Tei Wholesale Fruit Market operating from dawn, the Jade Market vendors setting up along Kansu Street, and the broad jade-and-antique covered Jade Market itself. Tsim Sha Tsui’s Avenue of Stars along the waterfront and the Hong Kong Museum of Art are both accessible before the early afternoon. The Symphony of Lights nightly show, visible from the Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront from 8pm, is the world’s largest permanent light and sound show if the timing allows a final evening walk before the port transfer.

Azamara Quest departs Hong Kong today and the harbour views from the deck as the ship clears the island and heads into the South China Sea are among the finest in any embarkation on any page reviewed in this series. The city’s extraordinary skyline, the container port, the islands and the junks are all visible on the approach to open water. Settle into your stateroom and join the welcome reception as Hong Kong fades behind the stern and the South China Sea opens ahead. Taipei arrives tomorrow.

A sea day heading northeast across the South China Sea toward Taiwan as Azamara Quest makes the crossing from Chinese waters into the Taiwan Strait. The strait between mainland China and Taiwan is one of the most geopolitically significant bodies of water in the world, and the destination briefing on Taiwan’s remarkable history, its complex relationship with the mainland and the specific character of Taipei is worth attending today as preparation for tomorrow’s port call.

Keelung is the port for Taipei, 18 miles inland, and Azamara Quest’s day in port gives time to reach the city and engage with it properly. Taipei 101, the 508-metre tower that was the world’s tallest building from 2004 to 2010, anchors the city’s contemporary identity and the observatory at the 89th floor gives views across the entire Taipei Basin and the surrounding mountains. The National Palace Museum holds the world’s largest collection of Chinese imperial art, over 700,000 objects removed from Beijing’s Forbidden City in 1948, and is one of the most significant collections of Chinese civilisation anywhere in the world. The Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall’s hourly guard change is one of the most precise and disciplined ceremonies in Asia. The Shilin Night Market, one of the largest and most celebrated in Taiwan, opens in the late afternoon and the xiao long bao soup dumplings available throughout the market are among the finest in any Chinese culinary tradition.

Ishigaki is the main island of the Yaeyama archipelago at the southwestern tip of Japan, and the character of this island, with its lush tropical rainforest, mangrove rivers, white sand beaches and coral reefs, is genuinely unlike anything that comes to mind when most people think of Japan. The Kabira Bay, a nationally protected marine park where the turquoise water and white sandbars are accessible by glass-bottom boat rather than swimming due to the strong currents, is the island’s most celebrated single sight. The Yonehara Beach reef, accessible by snorkel, is one of the finest in the Okinawa prefecture. The influence of Taiwanese, Chinese and American culture alongside the Japanese gives Ishigaki’s food, architecture and daily life a uniquely hybrid character that is particularly visible in the old town’s traditional Ryukyuan houses alongside the more modern resort infrastructure.

Naha is the capital of Okinawa Prefecture and the largest city in the Ryukyu Islands, a chain of islands whose distinctive culture, language and history set them apart from mainland Japan even after their formal incorporation in 1879. The Shuri Castle, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the former palace of the Ryukyu Kingdom, is the most significant historical site in Okinawa and dominates the hilltop above the city. The Okinawa Peace Memorial Park and Museum in the south of the island, commemorating the Battle of Okinawa in 1945, one of the most devastating land battles of the Pacific War, is one of the most honest and moving war memorials in Japan. The Churaumi Aquarium, home to the world’s second largest fish tank and the only aquarium in the world to successfully display whale sharks alongside manta rays in a single tank, is an extraordinary facility and the most visited attraction on the island. The Kokusai-dori, Naha’s main shopping street, is the right place for awamori Okinawan spirit, sata andagi doughnuts and the distinctive blue pottery of the Tsuboya ceramics district nearby.

A sea day heading northwest from Okinawa across the East China Sea toward Shanghai. The East China Sea is one of the most historically significant bodies of water in Asia, the crossing route for centuries of trade, cultural exchange and military conflict between China, Japan and Korea. Shanghai arrives tomorrow and the transition from the Japanese island world of Okinawa to mainland China’s most extraordinary city is one of the most dramatic cultural shifts on this entire voyage. The destination briefing on Shanghai’s history, the concession-era architecture of the Bund and the scale of Pudong’s development since 1990 is worth attending today.

Shanghai arrives with the Pudong skyline announcing itself from the water as Azamara Quest sails into the Huangpu River. The arrival into the Huangpu on a ship of this size, with the Oriental Pearl Tower, the Shanghai Tower and the Jin Mao Tower rising in a cluster on the left bank and the neoclassical and Art Deco European-era buildings of the Bund stretching along the right, is one of the great urban river arrivals in the world. Three days here give the time the city deserves. Day one is best given to the contrast between the two sides of the river: the Bund’s European-era grandeur facing Pudong’s contemporary towers across 400 metres of the Huangpu is the defining Shanghai image and the most striking visual expression of China’s 20th-century transformation available anywhere in the country.

A second full day in Shanghai and the city’s cultural depth becomes fully accessible. The Shanghai Museum in People’s Square, whose collection of Chinese bronzes, ceramics, calligraphy and jade is among the finest in the world, is worth three hours of the morning. The French Concession, the tree-lined residential neighbourhood of plane trees and lane houses that was the foreign settlement from the 1840s to 1943, is the finest area to spend a late morning on foot. The independent coffee shops, boutiques and restaurants of Wukang Road and Anfu Road occupy the ground floors of preserved shikumen townhouses and give the French Concession its distinctive character. The Yuyuan Garden and the old city’s bazaar surrounding it, and the Jade Buddha Temple in the Jing’an district, are both accessible in the afternoon.

A third day in Shanghai and the opportunity to explore the city’s contemporary culture. The M50 creative cluster on Moganshan Road, a former textile factory complex converted into the finest concentration of contemporary art galleries in China, is the best single morning in Shanghai for those interested in the country’s living art scene. Tianzifang, the arts and crafts labyrinth of the former French Concession, offers a more commercial but equally charming alternative. The observation deck of the Shanghai Tower gives the full 360-degree panoramic view of the city at the highest publicly accessible vantage point in China. The ship departs today and a final xiao long bao at a traditional restaurant near the Bund is the right close to three days in one of the world’s most extraordinary cities.

A sea day heading north from Shanghai along the Chinese coast toward Dalian. The Yellow Sea is visible to the east and the Shandong Peninsula on the port side as Azamara Quest moves into the Bohai Sea. Dalian arrives tomorrow, a city whose history of colonial occupation by three different world powers in the 20th century gives it an architectural character unlike any other city in northern China.

Dalian is one of China’s most visually distinctive cities, its history of British, Russian and Japanese occupation leaving an architectural legacy of European-style boulevards, Russian Orthodox churches and Japanese-era civic buildings that sits alongside modern Chinese development in a way that creates a genuinely unusual streetscape. Zhongshan Square, the city’s central roundabout, is ringed by colonial-era bank buildings in a range of European styles that are now used as government offices. The Lushun District, 45 minutes from the city, holds the well-preserved battlefields and cemeteries of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904 to 1905 and the Russian-built Fort No.1 that changed hands after one of the most significant naval engagements in modern history. The Russian Street district gives the clearest sense of Dalian’s pre-war character, and the seafood restaurants along the harbour serve the finest Bohai Sea produce in northern China.

Tianjin is the port for Beijing, three hours inland by road or 30 minutes by high-speed rail, and Azamara Quest’s two-day call gives time to visit the capital properly. Day one is best devoted entirely to Beijing: the Forbidden City, the largest palace complex in the world with 980 buildings across 72 hectares at the centre of Beijing, is the essential first destination. Tiananmen Square immediately south of the Forbidden City is the largest public square on earth. The Temple of Heaven, where emperors performed annual ceremonies to pray for good harvests, is the most architecturally distinctive building in Beijing. The Hutong alleyways of the old city, best explored by rickshaw or on foot, give a sense of the courtyard house culture that predated the modern city.

A second day from Tianjin and the Great Wall is the essential destination. The Mutianyu section, 90 minutes north of Beijing, offers the most accessible and best-preserved stretch of the Wall with a cable car to the top and the extraordinary experience of walking a structure that stretches over 21,000 kilometres across China’s northern frontier. Those who have visited the Great Wall previously may prefer to spend the second day in Tianjin itself: the city’s Italian and French concession-era architecture, the Ancient Culture Street and the Porcelain House, a mansion covered in millions of pieces of ancient porcelain and ceramic shards, are all worth exploring. The Goubuli steamed bun, created in Tianjin in 1858 and one of China’s most celebrated street foods, is available throughout the city’s market areas.

A sea day heading northeast from Tianjin across the Bo Hai Gulf and into the Yellow Sea toward South Korea. The voyage is now in its final days and Seoul is two days ahead. The destination briefing on Seoul’s extraordinary history, covering five centuries of the Joseon Dynasty, the Japanese colonial period, the Korean War and the country’s remarkable contemporary transformation, is worth attending today as context for the two days in the Korean capital ahead.

Azamara Quest arrives at Incheon, 40 kilometres west of Seoul, and the city is yours for the day. Seoul is one of the great surprises of Asian travel: a metropolis of ten million people whose five centuries of Joseon dynasty royal palaces, Buddhist temples and traditional hanok neighbourhoods sit alongside a contemporary culture of extraordinary vitality. Gyeongbokgung Palace, the largest of the five grand palaces built in 1395, anchors the old city in the north. The Bukchon Hanok Village immediately east of the palace is a preserved neighbourhood of traditional Korean houses, their curved tiled rooftops covering a hillside between two palaces. Insadong’s gallery-lined street and the Namdaemun and Gwangjang markets offer the full range of Korean craft, food and commerce. Disembark and transfer to your included 2-night Seoul hotel this evening.

A full free day in Seoul and the city rewards those who move beyond the palace circuit into its contemporary layers. The Hongdae neighbourhood around Hongik University is the centre of Seoul’s independent music, art and café culture and is at its most vibrant on a Saturday afternoon. The Dongdaemun Design Plaza, the extraordinary flowing aluminium structure designed by Zaha Hadid and housing multiple floors of fashion, design and cultural events, is one of the most distinctive buildings in Asia. The Han River parks, accessible by metro from most central hotels, are where Seoul’s residents spend their weekends: cycling, barbecuing and enjoying the river views that the city’s rapid development once obscured but has now deliberately restored.

Your Empire Shores of East Asia journey concludes this morning with your transfer to Incheon International Airport. Nineteen nights have taken you from Hong Kong’s harbour to Taiwan’s night markets, Okinawa’s peace memorial, three days in Shanghai’s extraordinary dual cityscape, Beijing’s Forbidden City and Great Wall, and two days in one of Asia’s most dynamic capitals. Ask your Cruiseabout specialist about extending your Seoul stay before flying home.