Piecesofeight

Rio Trombetas is a tributary of the Amazon and the reason for going there is not the place itself which is just a village and a bauxite terminal for the export of aluminium ore, but rather the journey it takes to get there. To pass by Santarem, Oriximina and Obidos in the afternoon sunlight with the rows of wooden boats all along the quayside is a joy – as well as the tiny hamlets on the banks of the Amazon with a single family and their canoes. Quite incredible to see another way of life utterly divorced from the rat race.

We were loading coal, I was on a merchant ship, we went ashore to a bar (as you do) and a few of us were invited home to the house of a couple we met in the bar. We were so hospitably treated with beer and food that I remember little of the rest of the afternoon only the apology the following day when our hosts came onboard to visit the ship. Australia is a great place, one day I’ll have to see it sober :-)

n.b. I did see Sydney and Melbourne sober in 1989/90, but having spent 3 weeks in Aus and three months in NZ I think that tells you all you need to know about my preference.

The Koreans are really nice people, great sense of humour, well mannered and good company. I’ve been to Seoul, Busan and Incheon and my experiences were all good, I recommend it.

I’ve never seen rain like it.

We were waiting our turn alongside to load bauxite into the holds of a merchant ship I was working on at the time. The African rain is something else. It was coming down like stair rods. I’ve read that expression elsewhere never realising the truth of it. If you’d gone outside in it you would have been drenched in an instant. Good to see though.

A couple of guys from the ship went ashore and came back with Hep C. so I don’t recommend the local entertainment.

Done the Suez canal transit many times over the years. Always a good trip, pilots come on board with empty bags and leave with a lot of the ship’s provisions esp. Marlboro and whisky, twas ever thus.

A very pleasant day standing by the rail and watching the desert go by.

I was working on a small merchant ship loading rolls of newsprint.

1991 visiting on a merchant ship loading alumina powder.

A bit of a shock to be honest, reminded me of Lagos. Poor, third world. A good place to smoke ganga and drink Red Stripe beer in s strip joint. I still don’t remember the taxi ride back to the ship all these years later, just the stories I was told the following day about our taxi being stopped by a policewoman and me asking her if she wanted to sleep with me. All good fun.

Not longing to go back, and Kingston sounded worse.

Well, if you’re there then enjoy it. Red soil, high temperatures, saltwater crocs, open air cinema, houses on stilts, hardly a tourist hotspot. We were there loading bauxite into a ship’s hold and making the most of the local hospitality i.e. bar. The locals call it the “Top End”. I call it the end of the world. Seen worse places though, like Lagos.

Great fun, if you have a shipping interest visit the docks and the Cap San Diego, if you just want to get pissed and have good time go to Pupasch by the river, if it’s the summer visit the Dom funfair and at night take a stroll along the Reeperbahn and enjoy the nightlife, Hamburg is fun.

Fascinating industrial past, canals and weirs, sharing a history with Manchester so far as I could understand. (1989), would love to learn more about the place.

For many years, Norrköping was called ”Sweden’s Manchester”, as it was the country’s centre for textile manufacture.

http://www.aurora.komvux.norrkoping.se/komvux/history/02/hi_norrk.htm