V is for Vagabond: The Slow Boat to China Was Indeed Slow

Sunday, November 30, 2008

The Slow Boat to China Was Indeed Slow

So I posted about taking the slow boat to China a while back. I'm finally getting around to posting about my trip. Yes it was indeed slow but it was muuuch cheaper than flights to Shanghai and it was fun too.

The trip took two and a half days. Most of the people onboard were Chinese. There were some Japanese, and then there was a small group of Mexican or Spanish backpackers and me.

The trip itself was nice and I'd recommend it to anyone that can spare the time. It cost about about $220 I think.... All the flights from anywhere in Japan to Shanghai were in the $600-$800 range. Needless to say, I was very pleased to save that much money.

There are details on how to book the trip here:
http://www.seat61.com/China.htm

This is the ferry company I took:
http://www.shinganjin.com/
English Version

Info on going to China from the Japan
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/message.jspa?messageID=13918466

To book my ticket I asked people working at my hostel to book the ship for me. There are no English speakers at the Tokyo or Osaka office.

Breakfast is included but you must pay for all other meals. The food is surprisingly not too shabby, some of them quite good actually. For entertainment most of the guests play mahjong, card games, or in the case of a few - playing chinese chess. There's also dancing and karaoke after dinner time but it's filled with mostly old people. A few of the younger Chinese and Japanese girl decided to sing as did the group of Mexican or Spanish backpackers. There are shower and laundry facilities onboard but I decided not to use them. Yep, I did not shower for 2 1/2 days... this may seem nasty but the showers didn't seem all that great to me. There's also a small arcade and ping pong table.