Day 24: Crisis of the Devices (Yellow Sea)

A major technological disaster hit today. Fortunately it hit late in the day, before it could derail the holiday, but the effects were horrific.

The day started well-enough. We had another nice sunrise, and eased into with coffee and snacks in the stateroom before I set off for another poker tournament.

Speaking of poker, I can't recall the last time I was at a table with so many knuckle-dragging, mouth-breathing, chin-drooling intellectual misfires. Worse still, *lucky* knuckle-dragging, mouth-breathing, chin-drooling intellectual misfires. 

Every dumb-ass all-in call seemed to end with the small fore-brained player getting ridiculously lucky and getting the cards to pull of their 1 in 4 or 1 in 8 or 1 in 12 chance of winning.

Even more aggravating, I can't even claim I lost because of the EEG flatliners. I had the misfortune to have the best player on the ship sitting to my immediate left, which is exactly where you don't want the best player, and he's the one who busted me out. I suppose there's a tiny consolation in that he went on to win, but that is a tiny consolation indeed.

I joined Emma for lunch in the International Dining Room, and had the best Reuben sandwich I've had for two years, and that was at the world-famous Katz' Deli in New York.

We made decent inroads in our books in the Deck 5 coffee shop and on our balcony when disaster struck: 

All of our electronic devices ran out of power at the same time. 

The Kobo, the Kindle, the iPad, even the camera. Empty. It was like being hurtled back into the 17th century. In Peru. 

Deprived of our gadgets we went exploring, and found complete sections of the ship we'd never seen, such as the Sanctuary. A calm little oasis on the top deck - if not for the hum of the radar dishes and air-conditioning equipment. Bit of a design flaw, that.

We had another dinner with Carol and Wayne, our Canadian friends, which Emma says is the best meal she's had on the ship (an antipasto plate, followed by chicken with sage and prosciutto). All four of us agreed the dessert, a hazelnut semifreddo, was the best we've had. Just imagine if they've given us a full freddo. 

I may have overdone it by doing more than my fair share of two bottles of red wine and a limoncello. Possibly unwise in light of a 6.30 docking.

Shanghai tomorrow, with Emma champing at the bit to show me all the bits she saw that I missed out on in our first time there, due to me actually having to work while she went hither and yon. We just hope the Shanghai smog doesn't make it impossible to see anything.