The Ferry - MV Eastern Dream

Well, what a departure! What a night!

After sailing from Japan, I stood on deck and reminisced. Around 30 minutes later, I went down to the bar and ate some spicy noodles and a plate of kimchi. The girl working in the bar seemed a bit surprised I was up for the hottest dish they had on the menu.

BBQ time

I wandered around trying to decide what to do…..the ‘nightclub’ was open so I decided I should investigate. I ordered a beer but with little happening inside, I decided to sit on deck and watch the sea traffic slide by. I was quite surprised to see a BBQ in the offing and then 30 seconds later a group of about 10 Korean blueberry farmers dragged me to their table. One of the farmers had the personality and looks of my late father-in-law Takashi.

I was forced to imbibe a lot of Korean soju and asked a lot of mostly unintelligible questions in pidgin English. As the conversation went on, the farmers decided that I was a some sort of travelling university professor. They seemed slightly incredulous with my pictures from North Korea.

 

Blueberry Boys

We sat outside exchanging mostly unintelligible information for about an hour. Quite a bunch of characters returning from a business trip in Tokyo. They saw me standing alone so decided to take me under their wing.

We next all returned to the ‘nightclub’, essentially a big karaoke room. Although I was in a room full of Korean farmers and their wives, apart from the language difference, they could easily have been Japanese. Even the songs they sang sounded like Japanese enka.

The Takashi look alike then wanted me to sing a song in front of the 40 odd people. Rather amazingly, he wanted me to sing ‘Danny Boy’,  a Takashi favourite. I did the business and then later ‘Surfin USA’.

A wonderfully surreal night ploughing through the Sea of Japan, or the East Sea as they say in Korea. During the stopover in Korea, I think I have been invited one of the farmer’s houses for blueberry wine and lunch. Either that or they were talking about the baseball results – lets see what happens tomorrow.

Before bed and typing this entry, I went up to the top deck to look around and at the stars. A night never to forget.