ONSAN, SOUTH KOREA
ONSAN, SOUTH KOREA- JANUARY 5, 2007
From Saganoseki, we navigated at Japan inland waters, sailed northwest across the Strait of Korea which separates the Japanese islands to Asian mainland. The sailing time took almost 13 hours. We arrived at Onsan anchorage area at eight in the evening on the same day and dropped anchor thereafter.
On January 7th at ten o’clock in a cold and cloudy Sunday morning, the Korean harbor pilot boarded and maneuvered the ship to berth. Approaching the harbor, I saw the towering buildings at the city of Ulsan and massive structures of Hyundai shipbuilding industries. When the ship berthed, nine new officers and crew embarked. Eleven crew members including two Koreans, Captain and Chief Engr. had been scheduled to disembark at Onsan because their shipboard contract ended. However, the company decided to let Captain off at next loading port for overlapping and turn over of command to the next Master.
On the next day, three shipmates and I went for shore leave. We hired a taxi and headed to the city of Ulsan almost 18 kilometers away from the port. We passed by along Onsan National Industrial Park, one of the industrial hubs in South Korea. After a 30 minute ride, we reached the down town. We told the diver to bring us at electronics and computer accessories center because we wanted to buy a new microphone for the ship recreation and accessories for our laptop computers. We ran out of budget for the microphone because of its costly price. We paid for computer accessories instead. Then, we went to the Hyundai Department Store, a huge shopping center at Ulsan with stores of authentic bags, shoes, jewelries, perfumes, and signature clothes. In the Philippines, it’s comparable to Glorietta at Ayala center. I asked the Korean salesladies if where I could buy souvenir t-shirts. They didn’t understand English. They kept on smiling at me. I joked with them in return telling that I saw them in “Jewel in the Palace”, “Full house”, and “Stairway to heaven”, some of the Korea novelas popular in the Philippines. Still they continually smiled at me, displaying their oriental cute faces. Adjacent to Hyundai department store is another big duty free shopping center called Lotte. Our time for shore leave is limited so we asked the driver to bring us back to ship.
Last day at Onsan, ten former officers and shipmates disembarked for a vacation. We made adjustments again on board for the new Captain, Senior Officers, and crew. On that day, the unloading finished. We left Onsan on January 9th afternoon, sailed due south to our loading port at Haypoint, Australia.
From Saganoseki, we navigated at Japan inland waters, sailed northwest across the Strait of Korea which separates the Japanese islands to Asian mainland. The sailing time took almost 13 hours. We arrived at Onsan anchorage area at eight in the evening on the same day and dropped anchor thereafter.
On January 7th at ten o’clock in a cold and cloudy Sunday morning, the Korean harbor pilot boarded and maneuvered the ship to berth. Approaching the harbor, I saw the towering buildings at the city of Ulsan and massive structures of Hyundai shipbuilding industries. When the ship berthed, nine new officers and crew embarked. Eleven crew members including two Koreans, Captain and Chief Engr. had been scheduled to disembark at Onsan because their shipboard contract ended. However, the company decided to let Captain off at next loading port for overlapping and turn over of command to the next Master.
On the next day, three shipmates and I went for shore leave. We hired a taxi and headed to the city of Ulsan almost 18 kilometers away from the port. We passed by along Onsan National Industrial Park, one of the industrial hubs in South Korea. After a 30 minute ride, we reached the down town. We told the diver to bring us at electronics and computer accessories center because we wanted to buy a new microphone for the ship recreation and accessories for our laptop computers. We ran out of budget for the microphone because of its costly price. We paid for computer accessories instead. Then, we went to the Hyundai Department Store, a huge shopping center at Ulsan with stores of authentic bags, shoes, jewelries, perfumes, and signature clothes. In the Philippines, it’s comparable to Glorietta at Ayala center. I asked the Korean salesladies if where I could buy souvenir t-shirts. They didn’t understand English. They kept on smiling at me. I joked with them in return telling that I saw them in “Jewel in the Palace”, “Full house”, and “Stairway to heaven”, some of the Korea novelas popular in the Philippines. Still they continually smiled at me, displaying their oriental cute faces. Adjacent to Hyundai department store is another big duty free shopping center called Lotte. Our time for shore leave is limited so we asked the driver to bring us back to ship.
Last day at Onsan, ten former officers and shipmates disembarked for a vacation. We made adjustments again on board for the new Captain, Senior Officers, and crew. On that day, the unloading finished. We left Onsan on January 9th afternoon, sailed due south to our loading port at Haypoint, Australia.
posted by Arez at 9:09 PM
