MV Greenpeace / PC 8023
Position: Noon Pos: Mooring Bouy, Hong Kong Harbour
June 18th, 1996
Day 33
Hi everyone, this is Lynda (the cook) here. I'm taking over
writing the daily diary from Tanya, who is leaving us in a couple
of days. She is going to catch the Trans Siberian railway across
China and Russia. One of the sadder realities of ship life is saying good-bye to after living together in such a small space - it certainly accelerates the intensity of personal relationships
and ensures that strong friendships are made.
We had a great party a couple of nights ago and it seemed many
people had a good time letting go of the tension that had built
up in the past couple of weeks as we were preparing for our visit
to Shanghai.
On one hand we are ordinary ships' crew carrying out the
functions necessary for the task of getting our boat from one
place to another, and on the other hand we are each of us a
` vessel ' carrying the love, hopes and dreams of millions of
people for a peaceful,safe world for generations to come.
Personally I have found the responsibility an honour - if a bit
overwhelming at times, and am truly heartened by the contact with
individual supporters that are able to visit us.
So, here we are in HK winding down from China and gearing up for
the toxic waste tour of Japan - although not before visiting Nagasaki on our final port of call to highlight the urgent need for a total nuclear test ban. Nagaskai is the Japanese city that was devastated by a nuclear bomb in 1945, three days after Hiroshima. The Mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki have been very vocal against China for its continued nuclear testing and in asking them to join a total nuclear test ban. It will be an honour to meet the people for whom this Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty must mean so much - finally an end to nuclear testing is in sight and hopefully with that we can take the first step to a truly nuclear free world. But first we must convince China to cancel its next planned test and to drop its insistence for a review of these so-called “Peaceful” nuclear explosions.
Tomorrow is bunkering, the term used for refuelling the ship, so
all the engineers will have to be on hand for that.
My major preparations at each port involve stocking
up on fresh fruit and veges, so yesterday was shopping day - what an
experience! I couldn't believe the array of exotic vegetables and
animals for sale at the city marke. There were cages full of frogs, turtles, chickens, bins full of live shellfish and fish everywhere. Trolly loads of pigs dead but whole, waiting to be cut up. The
stall holders seemed to delight in holding up unidentified bits
and enticing me to buy them..We must have looked hilarious as
I ran around deciding what to buy while Steph, our Chinese translator from Germany
bargained and paid,and the others ferried everything
to our stockpile. Most other people there were just buying enough
for the day so the stallholders I bought off were delighted as I
stocked up rather extravagantly in their terms) for 2 weeks.
Oh the joys of shopping in exotic ports!
Well this has been a bit of a rave hope it makes up for the
silence of the last few days.
Til tomorrow
Love Lynda
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