It is now mid-September 2009 and we have been back from the trip for 4 and half months so it is time to wind up this story with some final thoughts. I have delayed writing this piece in order to get a little perspective and distance from the many experiences, sights, sounds and tastes which one carries away from such a trip.
First and foremost, for both Brigitte and me was the joy of being able to travel around the world with our grandson, Emmett. Many times on this trip we realized what a great and unique opportunity we were having of being able to show a 14 year old parts of the world which we already knew. What made it even more fun was the enthousiasm that Emmett showed for discovering new places. Here was no laid back traveller but rather someone who was like a sponge absorbing new places and faces and having a wonderful time doing it. After each of the first 8 or 10 countries his conclusion was that the last country was his most favorite... When you have someone so interested in new things, it adds a real fun dimension to the journey. I am sure that all of these experiences will stay in Emmett's memory but will fade with time. But the overall experience will stay with him and will have a deep effect on how he sees the world. Having been around the world, seen many different countries, seen poverty, seen cultures and met people from different countries has made him aware of the beauty, of the ugliness and of the variety of this world. If that is one of the results of the travel, not only has it been fun but I has allowed Brigitte and me to have given Emmett a tool to better understand this world we live in. Thanks, Emmett for giving us the privilege of seeing the world with and through you. I can only wish every parent and grandparent would get the chance to do something like this at least once in their lives.
As I look back on the second trip with Semester at Sea I see that each voyage is very different from previous ones. Yes the outlines are the same with students, professors, adults and a gaggle of children, but the content is very varied. This voyage attempted to be more focussed on Sciences than past voyages. This voyage had a definite theme with Migration as the leitmotif. This voyage was run by a dean who is a scientist but not the best manager. The prof who ran the daily Global Studies was really not the crowd inspiror we had on the first trip. The profs this time included quite a few who really were not very good at inspiring their students. The places we visited were the same but with 4 or 5 days in each port, there are always new things to see and do. In summary, I would do an other trip in a few years on Semester at Sea and I would recommend anyone with an interest in seeing the world to take a voyage. It is by far the most interesting way to travel and the most comfortable way to see the world. Invest some of your money and some of your time and the return will surprise you. I have met no one who has taken this voyage who has not thouroughly enjoyed themself and who has lived to be thankful for the opportunity.
I intend to pull together the various chapters of this blog and create an illustrated book which will serve as our souvenir of this great trip.
Cheers and I wish you all happy traveling.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Travel Chapter 28-Guatemala and the Panama Canal
Pictures for this chapter can be seen at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/akeyserlingk/Guatemala12009?authkey=Gv1sRgCNyh35LkpMzb8gE&feat=directlink
We docked early in the morning of April 28th in Puerto Quetza, Guatemala. The ship schedule originally had us arriving in Puerto Quetzal on the Pacific coast at 11am. We complained that this late arrival would mean that the day would be half wasted so they agreed to speed up to arrive earlier. Customs and immigration formalities were handled smoothly. The US embassy sent a couple of junior officers to do a diplomatic briefing which told little about the country other than that everyone was killing everyone else and that one should be street smart. This tracked the warning that the SAS leadership had given earlier. These had even Emmett traumatized about going ashore in such civil war-like conditions. They really do an excellent job of scaring the kids but I suppose their lawyers advise them to give all these dire warnings to cover their asses just in case some kids get into trouble. “We told you so”. It puts all the kids in a defensive mode and I am sure many of them did not even leave the ship because they were afraid for their lives.
Sure, it is true that there are killings and that there is corruption and that there are gang wars and that there are drug wars and that there are muggings. But, that is also the case in New York, Washington and LA. By now these kids are pretty street smart having gone around the world so they really do not need to be made too scared about that these things. By now the kids do not even take the warnings seriously because they have heard them so often that they are starting a new game of bingo where the blocks are made of the standard litany of warnings made at each port. At the briefings, if they go, one hears all of a sudden someone yell, Bingo. They have touched all the buttons on their cards. I agree that they should be made aware but not made scared. If they get scared they are not street smart and they will not enjoy the visits to these countries. If the management is so scared about the situation in a country they should not stop there. A level of violence could be posted and left at that. I one cries wolf too often, no one listens.
We were off the ship by 10 am but then had to wait for an hour and half until the Ecuadorians could find the key to the lock on some gate to let us out of the port area. The ship was parked in the industrial part of the port as the one passenger terminal was taken up by the condo ship The World. This meant we had to be bussed around the port to what is called the passenger terminal where cars, taxis and busses are allowed to await passengers. It was very irritating to be sitting around but then we were back in Manana country. What kind of a bad impression to give to 800 arriving persons that they are so disorganized that we cannot even get out of the port.
We finally were given the go-ahead and the busses took us from the commercial port where we were parked over to the passenger terminal. There we ran into Wally and Sonia. After greetings all around, we jumped into their car and headed up the hill. We went from Sea Level to 1550 meters. It was a nice drive and up the hill to Antigua. When we arrived after an hour and half in Antigua and opened the car door in front of Wally
House, it was such a pleasant change of cool air after the stifling heat at the port.
The house itself was only 3 years old but it had been in true colonial style as were all the houses in this development. Even the roof tiles collaborate and grow moss within a year giving them a sheen and a look of a Spanish colonial time house. Inside, the house was spacious and nicely laid-out with a lovely courtyard with a fountain and running water. It even had a nice Guatemalan hammock. Wally and Sonia had collected a lot of art from around the world and he house was decorated with many fine pieces. Wally has his house on the market and you can see it at:
http://www.century21casanova.com/view_detail.php?propID=A88
Having seen it, I would recommend it and I am not even getting a commission…
We headed out to lunch at a small restaurant nearby called Epicure and had a light lunch at this very nice and airy place. It is run by a former farm equipment salesman who bought a farm near Antigua from which is supplies most of the food for his restaurant.
In the afternoon, Emmett and his extended shipboard family along with their extended family parents, Sage and John had planned a trip to a nearby coffee plantation which had a zip line operation. We dropped Emmett off in front of the Cathedral and the whole family of 10 set off in Jeepmog’s to the plantation.
We decided to go to the same plantation to see it and to have a cup of coffee. We found Emmett’s group ready to head into the mountain for their zip lining. We enjoyed a fine cup of coffee on the patio of the main building looking off in the distance at some of the local volcanoes. Antigua was the second capital of Guatemala after the first; Ciudad Vieja was totally destroyed by water flooding out of a collapsed volcano. Then in the 18th century, Antigua itself was destroyed by a major earthquake and the capital was once more relocated, this time to Guatemala City. Antigua was abandoned and fell into total disrepair until the middle of the 20th century when people started to return to the city and rebuilt what had been destroyed. Today, it is the jewel of Guatemala and the home of a lot of the money of Guatemala and of many expats who decided to settle there. It is about 1.5 hours from the capital so it also serves as a week-end place for many from the huge bustling Guatemala city. We were told that traffic in the city on week-ends is impossible. The city it self made us immediately think of San Miguel de Allende in Mexico where we spent several weeks last winter. The layout is the same with a large Cathedral off the main square and city hall off on the main street. The main difference is that Antiqua is smaller and rather flat compared to San Miguel with its very steep streets. The city is a major centre of Spanish language schooling with hundreds of little schools throughout the town. It is a big business which has also developed a parallel housing business for the students who stay there. As the Guatemalans speak a soft Spanish without the lilt and accent of places like Mexico or Cuba, it offers foreigners the possibility to study the language while living with local families.
Later we picked up Emmett in town and went out to dinner at an Argentinean restaurant. For a small town, there is an amazing number of restaurants. The town itself still shows the ruins of many churches, hospitals and convents which were never rebuilt after the earthquakes. It adds an eerie feeling to the city and the ruins are considered part of the heritage of this city.
At 0400 the next morning, Emmett and I were picked up by a microbus to transfer to the airport in Guatemala city for a flight to Flores in the north of the country. From there we were again picked up for an hours drive to the site of the Mayan Tikal site. Emmett had studied this site in school and was very interested in visiting it. B and I had been there on our previous visit so B opted not to do the visit again. This turned out to be a wise decision on her part at the visit is rather strenuous. It takes one along jungle trails for about a mile to the main site, then along smaller trails to other ruins which are very impressive but by 11am it got very hot and the trails got smaller with boulders and roots making walking difficult. We visited the whole site and Emmett climbed up every pyramid available which was no mean feat. After walking for 4 hours, we were given a good lunch and we headed back to Flores for our flight back to Guatemala city and then on with a microbus to Antigua.
We got back to Antigua at around 8pm tired but it had been a great day which is certainly worth the effort. We had dinner at home and we all hit the beds early to catch up on the sleep we did not get that day. It was nice to sleep in a house after so many months of ship cabin life broken only occasionally with nights on trains or in hotels. Home cooking and being in a house is totally different from canteen food and spaces shared with many others. Of course, the attraction on the ship is that there are always people with whom one can spend time talking, chatting or discussing. Also the academics on board do offer a rich tapestry of knowledge from which one can learn. There is usually someone on board who, if not an expert on a matter, at least knows a lot about subjects under discussion. The kids also offer a lively forum for talks and discussions and views. This is why we went back to the semester at sea formula as it offers a unique time and type of voyage not found on the standard cruise ships.
The next morning, Wally produced some of his signature pancakes which were well appreciated. We visited a jade museum con store. Guatemala has some of the best jade and the Mayan tradition of using Jade as jewelry is alive and well in Guatemala. The Mayans worked jade which was revered as a good luck stone. There are theories that maintain that the Chinese learned to work Jade from their contacts with the Mayans and also theories that the Mayans learnt it from the Chinese who visited this area in 1421, long before the Europeans arrived. The fact that the chickens used by these people are Asian breeds is one of the indications of contacts between the Chinese and this part of the Americas.
In the afternoon, after a nice lunch overlooking the ruins of the Antigua capital, we headed down to the coast to rejoin the ship. Sonia and Wally left us at the passenger drop off point and we returned to the ship after a nice visit.
We headed south for the next 2 days towards the Panama canal where we were promised a day passage. We had gone through twice before but each time at night so this was a new experience. The students wrote their last exams in those 2 days so there was still tension in the air.
On the third day at 0800 we were heading into the Mira Flores locks on the Pacific side of the Canal. I always find going through a canal with locks is a special experience as I am impressed to watch such huge bulks like ships rise and fall within the closed area of the locks. The crossing of the inside lake Gatun was like boating down the Amazon as the lake is surrounded by very heavy tropical forests. At times, the canal in the lake is very narrow and there is work now being done to widen the channels. Also, one can see at both ends of the canal that work has started on building the new locks which will allow the canal to accommodate the larger and newer ships.
On our crossing which took very little time (the shortest ever according to Captain Jeremy) we saw only 4 ships going west. This explains our fast crossing as there was no waiting at either the Pacific or Caribbean locks. This is no doubt the result in the dramatic drop in shipping due to the recession which has reduced shipping by some 25% worldwide. The Canal authority is so sensitive to this drop in tonnage that they are currently reducing the canal fees.
We are now underway to Fort Lauderdale our last stop. We will be passing just west of Cuba tomorrow morning and we will be docking at 0800 May 6th. The trip is really over and everybody on board is now packing and getting ready to disembark. Goodbyes are everywhere and one sees a lot of hugging going on as friends made on the voyage say good-bye. Emmett is running frantically making sure he sees his whole fan club before the end. He has been busy all day with various activities. He will miss his networking which he has developed to a fine art. But everybody on the ship will have to readjust to their normal lives after 3 months of travel together.
I will write a final contribution when we get home to Virginia and I have some time to take in this wonderful experience which I would hope to do again in the not too distant future.
http://picasaweb.google.com/akeyserlingk/Guatemala12009?authkey=Gv1sRgCNyh35LkpMzb8gE&feat=directlink
We docked early in the morning of April 28th in Puerto Quetza, Guatemala. The ship schedule originally had us arriving in Puerto Quetzal on the Pacific coast at 11am. We complained that this late arrival would mean that the day would be half wasted so they agreed to speed up to arrive earlier. Customs and immigration formalities were handled smoothly. The US embassy sent a couple of junior officers to do a diplomatic briefing which told little about the country other than that everyone was killing everyone else and that one should be street smart. This tracked the warning that the SAS leadership had given earlier. These had even Emmett traumatized about going ashore in such civil war-like conditions. They really do an excellent job of scaring the kids but I suppose their lawyers advise them to give all these dire warnings to cover their asses just in case some kids get into trouble. “We told you so”. It puts all the kids in a defensive mode and I am sure many of them did not even leave the ship because they were afraid for their lives.
Sure, it is true that there are killings and that there is corruption and that there are gang wars and that there are drug wars and that there are muggings. But, that is also the case in New York, Washington and LA. By now these kids are pretty street smart having gone around the world so they really do not need to be made too scared about that these things. By now the kids do not even take the warnings seriously because they have heard them so often that they are starting a new game of bingo where the blocks are made of the standard litany of warnings made at each port. At the briefings, if they go, one hears all of a sudden someone yell, Bingo. They have touched all the buttons on their cards. I agree that they should be made aware but not made scared. If they get scared they are not street smart and they will not enjoy the visits to these countries. If the management is so scared about the situation in a country they should not stop there. A level of violence could be posted and left at that. I one cries wolf too often, no one listens.
We were off the ship by 10 am but then had to wait for an hour and half until the Ecuadorians could find the key to the lock on some gate to let us out of the port area. The ship was parked in the industrial part of the port as the one passenger terminal was taken up by the condo ship The World. This meant we had to be bussed around the port to what is called the passenger terminal where cars, taxis and busses are allowed to await passengers. It was very irritating to be sitting around but then we were back in Manana country. What kind of a bad impression to give to 800 arriving persons that they are so disorganized that we cannot even get out of the port.
We finally were given the go-ahead and the busses took us from the commercial port where we were parked over to the passenger terminal. There we ran into Wally and Sonia. After greetings all around, we jumped into their car and headed up the hill. We went from Sea Level to 1550 meters. It was a nice drive and up the hill to Antigua. When we arrived after an hour and half in Antigua and opened the car door in front of Wally
House, it was such a pleasant change of cool air after the stifling heat at the port.
The house itself was only 3 years old but it had been in true colonial style as were all the houses in this development. Even the roof tiles collaborate and grow moss within a year giving them a sheen and a look of a Spanish colonial time house. Inside, the house was spacious and nicely laid-out with a lovely courtyard with a fountain and running water. It even had a nice Guatemalan hammock. Wally and Sonia had collected a lot of art from around the world and he house was decorated with many fine pieces. Wally has his house on the market and you can see it at:
http://www.century21casanova.com/view_detail.php?propID=A88
Having seen it, I would recommend it and I am not even getting a commission…
We headed out to lunch at a small restaurant nearby called Epicure and had a light lunch at this very nice and airy place. It is run by a former farm equipment salesman who bought a farm near Antigua from which is supplies most of the food for his restaurant.
In the afternoon, Emmett and his extended shipboard family along with their extended family parents, Sage and John had planned a trip to a nearby coffee plantation which had a zip line operation. We dropped Emmett off in front of the Cathedral and the whole family of 10 set off in Jeepmog’s to the plantation.
We decided to go to the same plantation to see it and to have a cup of coffee. We found Emmett’s group ready to head into the mountain for their zip lining. We enjoyed a fine cup of coffee on the patio of the main building looking off in the distance at some of the local volcanoes. Antigua was the second capital of Guatemala after the first; Ciudad Vieja was totally destroyed by water flooding out of a collapsed volcano. Then in the 18th century, Antigua itself was destroyed by a major earthquake and the capital was once more relocated, this time to Guatemala City. Antigua was abandoned and fell into total disrepair until the middle of the 20th century when people started to return to the city and rebuilt what had been destroyed. Today, it is the jewel of Guatemala and the home of a lot of the money of Guatemala and of many expats who decided to settle there. It is about 1.5 hours from the capital so it also serves as a week-end place for many from the huge bustling Guatemala city. We were told that traffic in the city on week-ends is impossible. The city it self made us immediately think of San Miguel de Allende in Mexico where we spent several weeks last winter. The layout is the same with a large Cathedral off the main square and city hall off on the main street. The main difference is that Antiqua is smaller and rather flat compared to San Miguel with its very steep streets. The city is a major centre of Spanish language schooling with hundreds of little schools throughout the town. It is a big business which has also developed a parallel housing business for the students who stay there. As the Guatemalans speak a soft Spanish without the lilt and accent of places like Mexico or Cuba, it offers foreigners the possibility to study the language while living with local families.
Later we picked up Emmett in town and went out to dinner at an Argentinean restaurant. For a small town, there is an amazing number of restaurants. The town itself still shows the ruins of many churches, hospitals and convents which were never rebuilt after the earthquakes. It adds an eerie feeling to the city and the ruins are considered part of the heritage of this city.
At 0400 the next morning, Emmett and I were picked up by a microbus to transfer to the airport in Guatemala city for a flight to Flores in the north of the country. From there we were again picked up for an hours drive to the site of the Mayan Tikal site. Emmett had studied this site in school and was very interested in visiting it. B and I had been there on our previous visit so B opted not to do the visit again. This turned out to be a wise decision on her part at the visit is rather strenuous. It takes one along jungle trails for about a mile to the main site, then along smaller trails to other ruins which are very impressive but by 11am it got very hot and the trails got smaller with boulders and roots making walking difficult. We visited the whole site and Emmett climbed up every pyramid available which was no mean feat. After walking for 4 hours, we were given a good lunch and we headed back to Flores for our flight back to Guatemala city and then on with a microbus to Antigua.
We got back to Antigua at around 8pm tired but it had been a great day which is certainly worth the effort. We had dinner at home and we all hit the beds early to catch up on the sleep we did not get that day. It was nice to sleep in a house after so many months of ship cabin life broken only occasionally with nights on trains or in hotels. Home cooking and being in a house is totally different from canteen food and spaces shared with many others. Of course, the attraction on the ship is that there are always people with whom one can spend time talking, chatting or discussing. Also the academics on board do offer a rich tapestry of knowledge from which one can learn. There is usually someone on board who, if not an expert on a matter, at least knows a lot about subjects under discussion. The kids also offer a lively forum for talks and discussions and views. This is why we went back to the semester at sea formula as it offers a unique time and type of voyage not found on the standard cruise ships.
The next morning, Wally produced some of his signature pancakes which were well appreciated. We visited a jade museum con store. Guatemala has some of the best jade and the Mayan tradition of using Jade as jewelry is alive and well in Guatemala. The Mayans worked jade which was revered as a good luck stone. There are theories that maintain that the Chinese learned to work Jade from their contacts with the Mayans and also theories that the Mayans learnt it from the Chinese who visited this area in 1421, long before the Europeans arrived. The fact that the chickens used by these people are Asian breeds is one of the indications of contacts between the Chinese and this part of the Americas.
In the afternoon, after a nice lunch overlooking the ruins of the Antigua capital, we headed down to the coast to rejoin the ship. Sonia and Wally left us at the passenger drop off point and we returned to the ship after a nice visit.
We headed south for the next 2 days towards the Panama canal where we were promised a day passage. We had gone through twice before but each time at night so this was a new experience. The students wrote their last exams in those 2 days so there was still tension in the air.
On the third day at 0800 we were heading into the Mira Flores locks on the Pacific side of the Canal. I always find going through a canal with locks is a special experience as I am impressed to watch such huge bulks like ships rise and fall within the closed area of the locks. The crossing of the inside lake Gatun was like boating down the Amazon as the lake is surrounded by very heavy tropical forests. At times, the canal in the lake is very narrow and there is work now being done to widen the channels. Also, one can see at both ends of the canal that work has started on building the new locks which will allow the canal to accommodate the larger and newer ships.
On our crossing which took very little time (the shortest ever according to Captain Jeremy) we saw only 4 ships going west. This explains our fast crossing as there was no waiting at either the Pacific or Caribbean locks. This is no doubt the result in the dramatic drop in shipping due to the recession which has reduced shipping by some 25% worldwide. The Canal authority is so sensitive to this drop in tonnage that they are currently reducing the canal fees.
We are now underway to Fort Lauderdale our last stop. We will be passing just west of Cuba tomorrow morning and we will be docking at 0800 May 6th. The trip is really over and everybody on board is now packing and getting ready to disembark. Goodbyes are everywhere and one sees a lot of hugging going on as friends made on the voyage say good-bye. Emmett is running frantically making sure he sees his whole fan club before the end. He has been busy all day with various activities. He will miss his networking which he has developed to a fine art. But everybody on the ship will have to readjust to their normal lives after 3 months of travel together.
I will write a final contribution when we get home to Virginia and I have some time to take in this wonderful experience which I would hope to do again in the not too distant future.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Travel Chapter 27-At sea enroute to Guatemala
We are now approaching the coast of Guatemala after 7 full days at sea. The sea has been calm for the most part but cloudy most of the first 4 days. Things lightened up on the 5th day and we have had nice sunny days since then. It is 4400 miles from Honolulu to Puerto Quetzal and that is only half of the Pacific Ocean. It is a huge body of water especially compared to the Atlantic. During those 7 days, we saw 2 ships and were followed at various times by Albatross and Boobies, which are both sea birds. We saw a few dolphins in the water but mostly these waters do not exactly team with wildlife.
The days have been busy with classes ending and the kids studying for their final exams. As a matter of fact, the word must have gotten around as I saw more people studying on this last leg than on all other legs together. It is only then that one realizes that there are 730 students on board the ship. It would appear that a third is always sleeping, an other third is always sunning and the final third is in class. Rarely if ever does one see the full complement of students.
But with finals being so important to the overall grade they will get for the semester, reality has hit. They had their Global Studies exam day before yesterday. This a daily course every morning which all must attend. I gave a lecture on Development, Banking and the World Bank and 5 of the 100 questions actually covered my material. So there are now 700 odd students and perhaps 50 adults who know more about that subject then when they came on board three months ago.
As we approach land, we have got the news of the swine flu outbreak spreading around the world. A suggestion was floated this evening at dinner that perhaps we should continue cruising on the high seas until the flu is over. By staying in our own world we would not be exposed to the bad things happening on land. But that will not happen and we will have to face the flu when we rejoin the community of humans on land. Hopefully, it will not be too bad and most of us will survive. Too bad that young and old people are the only ones who do not seem to be getting the flu. Those are the breaks but we will take those and hope our own younger people will not be harshly hit by this most recent epidemic. I did buy some Tami flu pills for us a year ago but they are safely ensconced in Virginia so not too much help there at least until we get home.
Exams are taking place. Emm has written 3 so far and has one more when we get back to the ship after visiting Guatemala. I asked the University of Virginia registrar on board whether they would give him some sort of credit document for his work and doing well in the exam and they declined. I have suggested that Emmett contact the individual professors when they get back to their campuses so that they can issue him a letter attesting to his attendance at the course and his good grades. That should not be a problem as they all appreciated his active attendance and his good grades at the various tests and exams. It is interesting to see a 14 year old who is doing more work and doing better than many of the college level students. One prof was telling me about a student who was asked in the final exam to answer 20 questions and to write a short essay. The kid got 15 answers wrong and then in the essay section he wrote only;” I guess I should have attend the classes.” Amazing to see how irresponsible some of them are. But for the most part, the student body takes the courses and results seriously as they become part of their academic record no matter where they are currently studying. As many have fairly high GPA’s when they come aboard, they are interested in seeing that their results from this semester do not bring down their average scores which are important when applying to graduate studies.
We will be docking tomorrow morning and then driving with Wally Daniels up to Antigua where we will be staying at his house with his wife Sonia. Wally used to work with me in our Abidjan office and he and his wife decided to build a house in Antigua and retire there.
Emmett will be going with a group from the ship under the supervision of our medical assistant and his wife to a Zip wire place just outside Antigua tomorrow. The next day, he and I are booked for an early morning start to fly up to northern Guatemala to visit Tikal, a Mayan ruin. We will return the same day. After 7 days at sea, everyone is looking forward to some time on land.
More on this later.
Cheers
The days have been busy with classes ending and the kids studying for their final exams. As a matter of fact, the word must have gotten around as I saw more people studying on this last leg than on all other legs together. It is only then that one realizes that there are 730 students on board the ship. It would appear that a third is always sleeping, an other third is always sunning and the final third is in class. Rarely if ever does one see the full complement of students.
But with finals being so important to the overall grade they will get for the semester, reality has hit. They had their Global Studies exam day before yesterday. This a daily course every morning which all must attend. I gave a lecture on Development, Banking and the World Bank and 5 of the 100 questions actually covered my material. So there are now 700 odd students and perhaps 50 adults who know more about that subject then when they came on board three months ago.
As we approach land, we have got the news of the swine flu outbreak spreading around the world. A suggestion was floated this evening at dinner that perhaps we should continue cruising on the high seas until the flu is over. By staying in our own world we would not be exposed to the bad things happening on land. But that will not happen and we will have to face the flu when we rejoin the community of humans on land. Hopefully, it will not be too bad and most of us will survive. Too bad that young and old people are the only ones who do not seem to be getting the flu. Those are the breaks but we will take those and hope our own younger people will not be harshly hit by this most recent epidemic. I did buy some Tami flu pills for us a year ago but they are safely ensconced in Virginia so not too much help there at least until we get home.
Exams are taking place. Emm has written 3 so far and has one more when we get back to the ship after visiting Guatemala. I asked the University of Virginia registrar on board whether they would give him some sort of credit document for his work and doing well in the exam and they declined. I have suggested that Emmett contact the individual professors when they get back to their campuses so that they can issue him a letter attesting to his attendance at the course and his good grades. That should not be a problem as they all appreciated his active attendance and his good grades at the various tests and exams. It is interesting to see a 14 year old who is doing more work and doing better than many of the college level students. One prof was telling me about a student who was asked in the final exam to answer 20 questions and to write a short essay. The kid got 15 answers wrong and then in the essay section he wrote only;” I guess I should have attend the classes.” Amazing to see how irresponsible some of them are. But for the most part, the student body takes the courses and results seriously as they become part of their academic record no matter where they are currently studying. As many have fairly high GPA’s when they come aboard, they are interested in seeing that their results from this semester do not bring down their average scores which are important when applying to graduate studies.
We will be docking tomorrow morning and then driving with Wally Daniels up to Antigua where we will be staying at his house with his wife Sonia. Wally used to work with me in our Abidjan office and he and his wife decided to build a house in Antigua and retire there.
Emmett will be going with a group from the ship under the supervision of our medical assistant and his wife to a Zip wire place just outside Antigua tomorrow. The next day, he and I are booked for an early morning start to fly up to northern Guatemala to visit Tikal, a Mayan ruin. We will return the same day. After 7 days at sea, everyone is looking forward to some time on land.
Cheers
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Travel Chapter 26- Hawaii
Pictures for this chapter can be seen at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/akeyserlingk/Hawaii2009?authkey=Gv1sRgCPTRvpjR8sSxPw&feat=directlink
We left Yokohama far behind us as we left Tokyo Bay and headed east to Hawaii. It was an 8 day crossing of over 4000 miles. The Pacific showed us all its facets from almost becalmed seas to very rough stretches of wind and waves. Throughout the passage we were often accompanied by groups of up to 12 albatross following in the slipstream of the ship. They are dark colored birds with amazing abilities to fly with little or no expenditures of energy. They followed in our slip stream riding the wind as the expert fliers they are. For hours on end they would slid in behind the ship then swerve to the left or right and fall back a few hundred yards to once again approach and catch up with the ship by flying high and then low over the waves for no obvious reason as they did no fishing while demonstrating their talents. It was almost as if they were showing off to us or each other. They apparently fish at night and I surmise during the day they just fly around, hundreds and then thousands of miles off the nearest coast or island.
We were also visited by red-footed boobies who preferred flying around the bow of the ship and who would land from time to time on the ship to rest and look around.
Otherwise, we saw very little pelagic life on the crossing. The days got sunnier as we headed away from Japan and the daily routines of classes, meals, afternoons on the decks or in one’s favorite places on the ship became the norm again. After a few weeks of constant ports with only 2 days between stops, it was nice to get a long stretch of sea life again.
I gave my lecture on the World Bank and on the current financial crisis to the assembled students at the daily Global Studies session. I had adapted the presentation to first lay down some definitions of what development really is by using and contrasting what the students had seen in India, Vietnam, Thailand, China and Japan. It is easy to understand what makes development when they had visited these countries and seen the dilapidated situation of the infrastructure of India in contrast to what they had seen done in the other countries. I then followed with a slide show description of the World Bank group which I had picked up from the Bank before I left and finished up with a quick discussion of how we got into the mess we are currently going through. It was well received and some students thanked me later. Later that week, I spoke in the business class which is now studying non profit organizations. I told of the experience I had gained setting up and managing the two projects I managed in my last decade at the Bank. It is so much easier to understand these concepts when they are described in terms of real live experiences. Finally, on one evening we hosted a career advising session for students thinking about going into different professions. 4 of us hosted the business careers but clearly the social sciences and teaching areas were more popular with the students who attended the various break out sessions held in different parts of the ship. What surprised me was the innocence of most students on how they should go about preparing themselves to enter the career world. These are juniors and seniors in college but clearly most had done little to prepare themselves and their CV’s to be able to compete for what will be a diminishing demand for their services given the current downturn. But I think we at least convinced some of them to start thinking about their futures and hopefully they will be better equipped to do what they need to do to get into the market. Several professors have noted how immature so many of these students are and that they will need to get a strong dose of reality as they move forward into the job markets. It would seem that few universities feel it is their duty to prepare students for their entry into the job markets. Perhaps it is because the academic staff of these universities do not feel it is their role to do this preparation or perhaps it is because they are really not equipped themselves to carry out this function. I am not sure whether one is not the cause of the other. But regardless, I believe that universities should then go out and get help in better preparing their students. So many cannot write, speak or present themselves in public. Many cannot seem to learn the basics in science or mathematics. If they do not learn that at college, when will they ever become functioning adults in a business environment which requires them to think, deal and innovate in a changing world which will only be able to use people who can convey and develop improving products, ideas and concepts in a world which will need knowledge and brain power. But, I suppose it will all get sorted out in the medium term but it does concern me how many will need to radically get their heads around the idea that there is real competition for the important and interesting jobs down the road. During my years of hiring young people, I was always struck how many young people do a great job in preparing themselves by gaining experiences which then differentiate them from the rest of the pack. It always strikes me on this ship with 700 students that the norm seems still to put all effort into conforming rather than being different, better and smarter. I am not sure when this changes but I think it had better begin soon for people who are 18 to 20…
After 8 days at sea we arrived early in the morning into Honolulu harbor. The ship tied up at the foot of the Aloha Tower at pier 11. US Immigration insisted on starting the procedures at 6.30 am for some unknown reason. So at 0600 the whole ship was awakened and one was ordered to proceed to the lounge to pick up one’s passport and to present it to Homeland Security officers who had set up shop there. It took about an hour and a half to process the whole shipboard company of passengers and crew so by 8.30 am on that Sunday people were headed ashore. Of course, there was great jubilation for the American citizens to be back on home territory. They were particularly happy that there would be no need to exchange money and that taxi drivers would be able to speak English (but no bargaining with the drivers).
We headed out to attend a church service at the main Hawaiian church where we had been told the service would be in Hawaiian. We found the church which was in front of the palace of the last queen of Hawaii. Sure enough the songs were done in Hawaiian but the service sermon was done in English interspersed with many Hawaiian words by a pastor who stood barefoot between the aisles and spoke as if to friends. It was well attended by a large crowd which was mainly made up of Hawaiian families. It was in this church that the last king of Hawaii had been crowned and it was in the castle across the street that the last queen of Hawaii had been jailed for years by the US businessmen who had run her out of power in order to take over control of the state to better their personal businesses. It is a sad story of how US business interests too often have driven US foreign policy for their benefit to the detriment of the rights of locals. The story tracks the infamy of United Fruit’s support of killing squads in Guatemala to ensure that land reform did not happen as it could have taken back land which United Fruit considered theirs to grow bananas. Or as was the case in Chile, where the US interests supported the barbaric military regime which overthrew the democratically elected government. In Hawaii, the US sugar barons forced the annexation of Hawaii in order to ensure they could sell their Hawaiian sugar to the mainland free of taxes. Hawaiians still regard the abolishing of the monarchy as a travesty, which it truly was. There is still a movement to reverse the process but it has little support today. The language and customs of Hawaii are now in the process of disappearing with very few persons able to speak the language. The mixing of the population has further diluted the historically indigenous population so that despite efforts to maintain the traditions and language, it is now largely a tourist attraction but not in the mainstream. The Mormon Church is strongly supporting the maintenance of the Hawaiian traditions but clearly it is not going to survive in a generation or two. The language is not even taught in the mainstream schools any longer. It is a very sad story of a civilization which had been founded on a communal principle of support and mutual respect faced with the harsh reality of capitalism at it rawest. It is too bad that a country which prides itself to be democratic has such a history of supporting regimes which are antidemocratic over such a long period. I would hope that US foreign policy one day would start to represent the consensus of the American people who are law abiding and respectful of human rights rather than the interests of a few who have influence over their elected officials. It is hardly surprising that many foreigners view Americans as being imperialists. It plays well into the hands of all shades of governments from Africa to Latin America to Asia who point to the many cases of US interventions into local politics to ground the accusations. So often this happens without widespread US popular support and even less consultation. It always surprises me how US foreign policy and practice is the tool of a few or small interests groups rather than reflecting the ethics and interests of the American people. Foreign Service officers seem to be in the employ of these interest groups rather than in the employ of the US population. Perhaps things will change one day. The new US regime under President Obama is already starting to unwind many of the silly positions into which the US forced itself against the general interest, starting with Cuba and reaching out to Iran. One can really be hopeful that one day US foreign policies as well as US immigration policies serve the interest of the country as a whole and not the interests of lobby or other isolated groups.
But that is enough on this subject. I just feel strongly having watched the situation over the last 20 or 30 years and always felt the disconnect described above.
In the afternoon of the first day, we joined a group to go snorkeling at Hanauma Bay which is about 15 miles out of Honolulu. It is a lovely round beach belonging to a former volcanic caldera which was invaded by the sea. It was the most heavily used beach of Honolulu after Waikiki to the point that the coral reef and the fish were almost killed out until 1969 when the beach was declared a national park and protected. Today, each visitor is required to see a video on the conservation of the coral reef and fish before even going down to the beach. Then visitors are required to leave the park after 2 hours and the overall number of people is limited by an entry gate. We rented snorkeling equipment and Emmett and I went out beyond the first coral reef to see the main coral growths. Brigitte decided to stay within the first reef area. We spent about and hour and half swimming up and down the width of the bay. The water was clear but a little misty but there was a huge collection fish types. We even followed a sea turtle for about 15 minutes while it gracefully visited various corals. We then went back to the ship to rest and decided to go to Waikiki for sundown and later for dinner. We got to Waikiki by taxi and sat down at a beach side bar for a drink to watch the sundown. The last time I had been there was more than 15 years earlier. Of course, the place has taken off since then. When I last stayed there we lodged at the pink lady, the Royal Hawaiian which was one of the only hotels there. Today, it is wall to wall hotel and it looks even worse than Miami Beach. Masses of people surge up and down the beach in gaudy clothes. Not a nice sight.
We left the hotel and went to a store nearby where Emmett was decked out with Hawaiian shorts and shirt. Coincidently, he had worn a brown shirt like mine which we had both bought in Namibia and he was most embarrassed. In his new garb, he looked like a typical surfer just off his board… And he was happy.
We had dinner at some non descript place and headed back to the ship for the night.
The next morning we picked up a rental car which I had reserved the previous day as it was the easiest and most economical means of seeing the whole island. We headed out up the Pali highway which cuts across to the northern side of the island. We stopped at the outlook at the top of the pass which offers an impressive view of the windward side of the island. This side receives far more rain and the vegetation is much more tropical than the Honolulu side. We then spent the morning driving casually along an excellent road which hugs the coast on which there are few if any beaches. We stopped for the obligatory Starbucks coffee and drove up to the Turtle Beach Hilton and residential development. I checked into the availability of a condo with a view of the ocean and found that a 1600 square feet 3 bedroom box unit costs US$2.5 million so I decided we would not be buying anything that morning. We continued on until we got to Sunset beach which is one of the prime surfer beaches on the north coast. During the period of September through March each year, the storms off the coast of Alaska create huge waves which are what hit these beaches and make all surfers go wild. Now, in April, these same beaches are calm with hardly any waves and of course, no surfers to be seen.
After a nice lunch at a restaurant facing the ocean, we headed south back to Honolulu. In the middle of the island, between the two ridges, there is a huge valley extending 2 or 3 miles from ridge to ridge. It is here that the great sugar and pineapple plantations were set up by the white settlers. It was also along this long valley that the Japanese airstrike came into on the tragic day of the Pearl Harbor bombing. It is a straight line down this long valley extending some 30 miles the length of the island straight into Pearl Harbor.
We stopped at a store to stock up on comfort food for the cabin for the next crossing to Guatemala which will take 8 days. One probably should not do it but everyone does return to the ship on departure date with plastic bags full of goodies to get them through the days at sea. After returning the car to the Enterprise office, we were driven back to our ship to prepare for our departure. At 8 pm on the nose, Captain Jeremy executed his usual excellent maneuvers to move the ship out of the harbor of Honolulu. I stayed on the upper deck to watch our departure from this beautiful island. The lights of Honolulu give no sense that there is any energy shortage as the place is light up as if there is no tomorrow. Nice to look at but one has to wonder who funds this extravagant display in this day and age. Particularly, as all or most of the power on this island is generated from petroleum imported from the mainland, or at least subsidized by federal subsidies. Even gasoline is cheaper in Honolulu than back in Virginia. But I guess there is some rationale for all of this show of wealth.
We sailed into the night and soon were rocking and rolling like in the best of times. We slept like babies although I know many people were feeling wheezy and dizzy. It will take some a day to get their sea legs back while others will suffer as we have 8 days to Guatemala. This is our last long sea journey on this trip and I look forward to the days ahead. Classes will be completed and the kids will be writing some of their exams before we get to Guatemala. So we shall be enjoying our last days.
Cheers
http://picasaweb.google.com/akeyserlingk/Hawaii2009?authkey=Gv1sRgCPTRvpjR8sSxPw&feat=directlink
We left Yokohama far behind us as we left Tokyo Bay and headed east to Hawaii. It was an 8 day crossing of over 4000 miles. The Pacific showed us all its facets from almost becalmed seas to very rough stretches of wind and waves. Throughout the passage we were often accompanied by groups of up to 12 albatross following in the slipstream of the ship. They are dark colored birds with amazing abilities to fly with little or no expenditures of energy. They followed in our slip stream riding the wind as the expert fliers they are. For hours on end they would slid in behind the ship then swerve to the left or right and fall back a few hundred yards to once again approach and catch up with the ship by flying high and then low over the waves for no obvious reason as they did no fishing while demonstrating their talents. It was almost as if they were showing off to us or each other. They apparently fish at night and I surmise during the day they just fly around, hundreds and then thousands of miles off the nearest coast or island.
We were also visited by red-footed boobies who preferred flying around the bow of the ship and who would land from time to time on the ship to rest and look around.
Otherwise, we saw very little pelagic life on the crossing. The days got sunnier as we headed away from Japan and the daily routines of classes, meals, afternoons on the decks or in one’s favorite places on the ship became the norm again. After a few weeks of constant ports with only 2 days between stops, it was nice to get a long stretch of sea life again.
I gave my lecture on the World Bank and on the current financial crisis to the assembled students at the daily Global Studies session. I had adapted the presentation to first lay down some definitions of what development really is by using and contrasting what the students had seen in India, Vietnam, Thailand, China and Japan. It is easy to understand what makes development when they had visited these countries and seen the dilapidated situation of the infrastructure of India in contrast to what they had seen done in the other countries. I then followed with a slide show description of the World Bank group which I had picked up from the Bank before I left and finished up with a quick discussion of how we got into the mess we are currently going through. It was well received and some students thanked me later. Later that week, I spoke in the business class which is now studying non profit organizations. I told of the experience I had gained setting up and managing the two projects I managed in my last decade at the Bank. It is so much easier to understand these concepts when they are described in terms of real live experiences. Finally, on one evening we hosted a career advising session for students thinking about going into different professions. 4 of us hosted the business careers but clearly the social sciences and teaching areas were more popular with the students who attended the various break out sessions held in different parts of the ship. What surprised me was the innocence of most students on how they should go about preparing themselves to enter the career world. These are juniors and seniors in college but clearly most had done little to prepare themselves and their CV’s to be able to compete for what will be a diminishing demand for their services given the current downturn. But I think we at least convinced some of them to start thinking about their futures and hopefully they will be better equipped to do what they need to do to get into the market. Several professors have noted how immature so many of these students are and that they will need to get a strong dose of reality as they move forward into the job markets. It would seem that few universities feel it is their duty to prepare students for their entry into the job markets. Perhaps it is because the academic staff of these universities do not feel it is their role to do this preparation or perhaps it is because they are really not equipped themselves to carry out this function. I am not sure whether one is not the cause of the other. But regardless, I believe that universities should then go out and get help in better preparing their students. So many cannot write, speak or present themselves in public. Many cannot seem to learn the basics in science or mathematics. If they do not learn that at college, when will they ever become functioning adults in a business environment which requires them to think, deal and innovate in a changing world which will only be able to use people who can convey and develop improving products, ideas and concepts in a world which will need knowledge and brain power. But, I suppose it will all get sorted out in the medium term but it does concern me how many will need to radically get their heads around the idea that there is real competition for the important and interesting jobs down the road. During my years of hiring young people, I was always struck how many young people do a great job in preparing themselves by gaining experiences which then differentiate them from the rest of the pack. It always strikes me on this ship with 700 students that the norm seems still to put all effort into conforming rather than being different, better and smarter. I am not sure when this changes but I think it had better begin soon for people who are 18 to 20…
After 8 days at sea we arrived early in the morning into Honolulu harbor. The ship tied up at the foot of the Aloha Tower at pier 11. US Immigration insisted on starting the procedures at 6.30 am for some unknown reason. So at 0600 the whole ship was awakened and one was ordered to proceed to the lounge to pick up one’s passport and to present it to Homeland Security officers who had set up shop there. It took about an hour and a half to process the whole shipboard company of passengers and crew so by 8.30 am on that Sunday people were headed ashore. Of course, there was great jubilation for the American citizens to be back on home territory. They were particularly happy that there would be no need to exchange money and that taxi drivers would be able to speak English (but no bargaining with the drivers).
We headed out to attend a church service at the main Hawaiian church where we had been told the service would be in Hawaiian. We found the church which was in front of the palace of the last queen of Hawaii. Sure enough the songs were done in Hawaiian but the service sermon was done in English interspersed with many Hawaiian words by a pastor who stood barefoot between the aisles and spoke as if to friends. It was well attended by a large crowd which was mainly made up of Hawaiian families. It was in this church that the last king of Hawaii had been crowned and it was in the castle across the street that the last queen of Hawaii had been jailed for years by the US businessmen who had run her out of power in order to take over control of the state to better their personal businesses. It is a sad story of how US business interests too often have driven US foreign policy for their benefit to the detriment of the rights of locals. The story tracks the infamy of United Fruit’s support of killing squads in Guatemala to ensure that land reform did not happen as it could have taken back land which United Fruit considered theirs to grow bananas. Or as was the case in Chile, where the US interests supported the barbaric military regime which overthrew the democratically elected government. In Hawaii, the US sugar barons forced the annexation of Hawaii in order to ensure they could sell their Hawaiian sugar to the mainland free of taxes. Hawaiians still regard the abolishing of the monarchy as a travesty, which it truly was. There is still a movement to reverse the process but it has little support today. The language and customs of Hawaii are now in the process of disappearing with very few persons able to speak the language. The mixing of the population has further diluted the historically indigenous population so that despite efforts to maintain the traditions and language, it is now largely a tourist attraction but not in the mainstream. The Mormon Church is strongly supporting the maintenance of the Hawaiian traditions but clearly it is not going to survive in a generation or two. The language is not even taught in the mainstream schools any longer. It is a very sad story of a civilization which had been founded on a communal principle of support and mutual respect faced with the harsh reality of capitalism at it rawest. It is too bad that a country which prides itself to be democratic has such a history of supporting regimes which are antidemocratic over such a long period. I would hope that US foreign policy one day would start to represent the consensus of the American people who are law abiding and respectful of human rights rather than the interests of a few who have influence over their elected officials. It is hardly surprising that many foreigners view Americans as being imperialists. It plays well into the hands of all shades of governments from Africa to Latin America to Asia who point to the many cases of US interventions into local politics to ground the accusations. So often this happens without widespread US popular support and even less consultation. It always surprises me how US foreign policy and practice is the tool of a few or small interests groups rather than reflecting the ethics and interests of the American people. Foreign Service officers seem to be in the employ of these interest groups rather than in the employ of the US population. Perhaps things will change one day. The new US regime under President Obama is already starting to unwind many of the silly positions into which the US forced itself against the general interest, starting with Cuba and reaching out to Iran. One can really be hopeful that one day US foreign policies as well as US immigration policies serve the interest of the country as a whole and not the interests of lobby or other isolated groups.
But that is enough on this subject. I just feel strongly having watched the situation over the last 20 or 30 years and always felt the disconnect described above.
In the afternoon of the first day, we joined a group to go snorkeling at Hanauma Bay which is about 15 miles out of Honolulu. It is a lovely round beach belonging to a former volcanic caldera which was invaded by the sea. It was the most heavily used beach of Honolulu after Waikiki to the point that the coral reef and the fish were almost killed out until 1969 when the beach was declared a national park and protected. Today, each visitor is required to see a video on the conservation of the coral reef and fish before even going down to the beach. Then visitors are required to leave the park after 2 hours and the overall number of people is limited by an entry gate. We rented snorkeling equipment and Emmett and I went out beyond the first coral reef to see the main coral growths. Brigitte decided to stay within the first reef area. We spent about and hour and half swimming up and down the width of the bay. The water was clear but a little misty but there was a huge collection fish types. We even followed a sea turtle for about 15 minutes while it gracefully visited various corals. We then went back to the ship to rest and decided to go to Waikiki for sundown and later for dinner. We got to Waikiki by taxi and sat down at a beach side bar for a drink to watch the sundown. The last time I had been there was more than 15 years earlier. Of course, the place has taken off since then. When I last stayed there we lodged at the pink lady, the Royal Hawaiian which was one of the only hotels there. Today, it is wall to wall hotel and it looks even worse than Miami Beach. Masses of people surge up and down the beach in gaudy clothes. Not a nice sight.
We left the hotel and went to a store nearby where Emmett was decked out with Hawaiian shorts and shirt. Coincidently, he had worn a brown shirt like mine which we had both bought in Namibia and he was most embarrassed. In his new garb, he looked like a typical surfer just off his board… And he was happy.
We had dinner at some non descript place and headed back to the ship for the night.
The next morning we picked up a rental car which I had reserved the previous day as it was the easiest and most economical means of seeing the whole island. We headed out up the Pali highway which cuts across to the northern side of the island. We stopped at the outlook at the top of the pass which offers an impressive view of the windward side of the island. This side receives far more rain and the vegetation is much more tropical than the Honolulu side. We then spent the morning driving casually along an excellent road which hugs the coast on which there are few if any beaches. We stopped for the obligatory Starbucks coffee and drove up to the Turtle Beach Hilton and residential development. I checked into the availability of a condo with a view of the ocean and found that a 1600 square feet 3 bedroom box unit costs US$2.5 million so I decided we would not be buying anything that morning. We continued on until we got to Sunset beach which is one of the prime surfer beaches on the north coast. During the period of September through March each year, the storms off the coast of Alaska create huge waves which are what hit these beaches and make all surfers go wild. Now, in April, these same beaches are calm with hardly any waves and of course, no surfers to be seen.
After a nice lunch at a restaurant facing the ocean, we headed south back to Honolulu. In the middle of the island, between the two ridges, there is a huge valley extending 2 or 3 miles from ridge to ridge. It is here that the great sugar and pineapple plantations were set up by the white settlers. It was also along this long valley that the Japanese airstrike came into on the tragic day of the Pearl Harbor bombing. It is a straight line down this long valley extending some 30 miles the length of the island straight into Pearl Harbor.
We stopped at a store to stock up on comfort food for the cabin for the next crossing to Guatemala which will take 8 days. One probably should not do it but everyone does return to the ship on departure date with plastic bags full of goodies to get them through the days at sea. After returning the car to the Enterprise office, we were driven back to our ship to prepare for our departure. At 8 pm on the nose, Captain Jeremy executed his usual excellent maneuvers to move the ship out of the harbor of Honolulu. I stayed on the upper deck to watch our departure from this beautiful island. The lights of Honolulu give no sense that there is any energy shortage as the place is light up as if there is no tomorrow. Nice to look at but one has to wonder who funds this extravagant display in this day and age. Particularly, as all or most of the power on this island is generated from petroleum imported from the mainland, or at least subsidized by federal subsidies. Even gasoline is cheaper in Honolulu than back in Virginia. But I guess there is some rationale for all of this show of wealth.
We sailed into the night and soon were rocking and rolling like in the best of times. We slept like babies although I know many people were feeling wheezy and dizzy. It will take some a day to get their sea legs back while others will suffer as we have 8 days to Guatemala. This is our last long sea journey on this trip and I look forward to the days ahead. Classes will be completed and the kids will be writing some of their exams before we get to Guatemala. So we shall be enjoying our last days.
Cheers
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Travel Chapter 25- Japan 2
Pictures for this chapter can be seen at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/akeyserlingk/Japan20091?feat=directlink
After a pleasant day at sea between Kobe and Yokohama, we arrived early in the morning into Tokyo Bay. This bay extends from Tokyo to the Pacific some 60 miles inland. It is a huge natural harbor and thus very protected. We were heading for a berth in the Yokohama port. Tokyo itself has a huge area and a population of 12 million people. As the city extends continuously to Yokahama, the greater Tokyo area has a population of around 35 million people or 25 percent of the total population of Japan.
After passing under the huge suspension bridge of Yokohama at around 7 am, we executed an elegant 360 degree turn before sliding smoothly into our position on the passenger dock of Yokohama. This is by far the most functional and beautiful passenger terminal we have seen on this trip. It is huge and can park 4 ships on the pier. The pier itself has a huge arrival and departure terminal with all the floors done beautifully in solid teak planking. Even the roof of this terminal can be accessed by persons awaiting the arrival of ships as the roof which has a lovely curve in it has been laid out with grass, teak floor and benches so that persons awaiting ships are almost at the level of passenger decks of the ships. The morning we came in there were some 100 persons there to greet us, This included a number of our own students who had made their way to Tokyo on their own the night before and were looking forward to getting on board for breakfast and showers. The port terminal had a wonderful boarding machine similar to what one sees at airports. This meant an easy transfer from the ship to the terminal by a sky walk.
After minimal formalities as we had never left Japanese territorial waters, we were cleared to head ashore. I had laid out three goals for the day in order to give the day a sense of adventure. First, I had an address in Tokyo to which we had to go to pick up my new American Express card, find some foreign language newspapers and magazines as we had 10 days ahead of us at sea and find a sim card for my phone.
So we came off the ship by 10 am and consulted with one of the nice ladies at the reception desk. She showed us where the Amex offices were and gave us instructions requiring getting on 3 different subway and rail lines to arrive at our destination. Armed with this information, we headed to the local subway station, figured out which tickets to buy to get to the Yokohama transfer station, changed subways and purchased new tickets. Got to the main Tokyo station, got new tickets and boarded the third line for our destination. Nowadays this is a little easier as they show the station signs not only in Japanese script but also in roman letters. After 75 minutes of travel, we arrived at our destination station. The problem was to find the address of Amex which we had been given. I was once again amazed at out little English is spoken in Japan. It took me 5 people before I found one who understood what I was looking for which I written on a sheet of paper and who knew in which direction to send us. Japanese street addresses read as follows: 3.56.49. I presume the numbering system means something and I hope one day someone will explain it to me. But at any rate, the numbers do not appear on the buildings so I am not sure how much use it is to anyone anyway. So we found the Amex offices and sure enough, within 10 minutes of our arrival and of my producing my credentials, a nice lady appeared with my new card and we were on our way.
I had reserved 3 tickets on the 1.40 pm Tokyo tour bus. We had to get to the World Trade Building which was on the other side of town. So we reboarded the metro system and headed to the assigned station. We got there in time for the bus which we boarded and off we went to visit Tokyo. The tour took us to the Imperial Palace of which we saw only the outside wall and then on to the Tokyo TV tower which is similar to the Eifel Tower in Paris and a little higher than the French one. The view of Tokyo from the observation deck showed a city which extends as far as the eye can see in every direction. It is quite amazing how the Japanese can keep a human element in such a large city but the little side streets are always clean and with flowers, trees are everywhere. We lucked out again as the Cherry blossoms were still in full bloom in this city. The tour visited the large Asakusa Kannon (built in 645) temple and dropped us off near the Ginza area. I asked the tour guide where we could have good sushi and he pointed to a little place just under the Japan Rail tracks headed into the Central Station. As it was only 5 pm we decided to walk to the Ginza street which is the main shopping street of Tokyo. It is a huge street lined with every trademark company stores from Rolex, to Gucci to Burberry and many more. We stopped in a sidewalk café and had a nice coffee while watching the population walk by. We then headed back to the sushi restaurant and sat down at the counter. A little belt goes around the counter with plates with different plates of sushi come by and one picks the ones one wants. Each type of sushi comes on different colored small plates. After the meal, the bill is prepared based on the number and color of the plates. We sat there and had a good meal. Emmett hat a great meal as he ate 15 different plates saying sushi was and is his favorite meal and he showed it that night!
We then headed back to the ship in Yokohama which took us a good 55 minutes on fast trains and Yokohama is considered a part of Tokyo. When we got back to the ship, the lights of Yokohama were in full force and were very beautiful. They love their lights in Asia.
The next morning we joined a ship organized trip to visit Mount Fuji and Hakone which are both about 50 miles south of Tokyo. The drive through the country certainly gave a different view of this country from what one sees in the big cities. It is a mountainous country in which only 13 % is arable and 73 % is mountainous. But the countryside is beautiful with high mountains and large valleys between them. We got to Mount Fuji which is about 2 hours from Tokyo along great highways but without views as there are sound barriers almost everywhere on Japanese freeways. But the drive up Mount Fuji to the fifth station at 3000 feet was really quite pleasant. The station had only opened a few weeks earlier and there were about 4 feet of snow still around. The views of this mountain are quite spectacular and more impressive than what one sees on postcards. The mountain is closed all year round except from July 1 to August 30th when the Japanese are allowed to climb the mountain. The views from station 5 into the valleys below were quite spectacular. We again lucked out with a clear sunny day so one could see the lakes which have formed from previous volcanoes around Mount Fuji. It looks very much like the Swiss alps albeit not quite as high. There is no skiing on the mountain which is considered sacred and is located in a national park.
After spending an hour we reboarded the bus and headed for Hakone which is locate on the range some 30 miles away from Mt Fuji. There we took a cable car which provided a further great view of Fuji as well as lake Ashi which itself is at about 1000 feet altitude. We all enjoyed the afternoon and after a short boat ride on the lake we headed back to the ship.
There the whole ship company had to disembark again and go through Japanese exit formalities which meant having our passports stamped by an emigration officer. This took an hour for most people and delayed our departure to 9pm. With 3 toots on the horn, we pulled away from the Yokohama pier and headed south out of the Tokyo Bay. As I do often, I stayed for well over an hour on the top deck watching our progress down the west shore of the Bay in a clear and full moon night. It was nice to be at sea again although it was the last we would see of Asia on this trip, we were now heading for home. We have 10 days at sea, including 2 Easters as we cross the date line. This will take us to Honolulu where we have 2 days before heading to our last port in Guatemala. Being at sea is nice and the sea routine settles back into place with classes and other activities. I will be working on my presentation to the student body scheduled for April 15th when I will be the morning speaker at Global Studies. I have been asked to talk about the World Bank, Japan and the Global crisis. All this in an hour presentation. I guess I will have to speak quickly to cover that much ground in the time available. More on that next time.
Cheers
http://picasaweb.google.com/akeyserlingk/Japan20091?feat=directlink
After a pleasant day at sea between Kobe and Yokohama, we arrived early in the morning into Tokyo Bay. This bay extends from Tokyo to the Pacific some 60 miles inland. It is a huge natural harbor and thus very protected. We were heading for a berth in the Yokohama port. Tokyo itself has a huge area and a population of 12 million people. As the city extends continuously to Yokahama, the greater Tokyo area has a population of around 35 million people or 25 percent of the total population of Japan.
After passing under the huge suspension bridge of Yokohama at around 7 am, we executed an elegant 360 degree turn before sliding smoothly into our position on the passenger dock of Yokohama. This is by far the most functional and beautiful passenger terminal we have seen on this trip. It is huge and can park 4 ships on the pier. The pier itself has a huge arrival and departure terminal with all the floors done beautifully in solid teak planking. Even the roof of this terminal can be accessed by persons awaiting the arrival of ships as the roof which has a lovely curve in it has been laid out with grass, teak floor and benches so that persons awaiting ships are almost at the level of passenger decks of the ships. The morning we came in there were some 100 persons there to greet us, This included a number of our own students who had made their way to Tokyo on their own the night before and were looking forward to getting on board for breakfast and showers. The port terminal had a wonderful boarding machine similar to what one sees at airports. This meant an easy transfer from the ship to the terminal by a sky walk.
After minimal formalities as we had never left Japanese territorial waters, we were cleared to head ashore. I had laid out three goals for the day in order to give the day a sense of adventure. First, I had an address in Tokyo to which we had to go to pick up my new American Express card, find some foreign language newspapers and magazines as we had 10 days ahead of us at sea and find a sim card for my phone.
So we came off the ship by 10 am and consulted with one of the nice ladies at the reception desk. She showed us where the Amex offices were and gave us instructions requiring getting on 3 different subway and rail lines to arrive at our destination. Armed with this information, we headed to the local subway station, figured out which tickets to buy to get to the Yokohama transfer station, changed subways and purchased new tickets. Got to the main Tokyo station, got new tickets and boarded the third line for our destination. Nowadays this is a little easier as they show the station signs not only in Japanese script but also in roman letters. After 75 minutes of travel, we arrived at our destination station. The problem was to find the address of Amex which we had been given. I was once again amazed at out little English is spoken in Japan. It took me 5 people before I found one who understood what I was looking for which I written on a sheet of paper and who knew in which direction to send us. Japanese street addresses read as follows: 3.56.49. I presume the numbering system means something and I hope one day someone will explain it to me. But at any rate, the numbers do not appear on the buildings so I am not sure how much use it is to anyone anyway. So we found the Amex offices and sure enough, within 10 minutes of our arrival and of my producing my credentials, a nice lady appeared with my new card and we were on our way.
I had reserved 3 tickets on the 1.40 pm Tokyo tour bus. We had to get to the World Trade Building which was on the other side of town. So we reboarded the metro system and headed to the assigned station. We got there in time for the bus which we boarded and off we went to visit Tokyo. The tour took us to the Imperial Palace of which we saw only the outside wall and then on to the Tokyo TV tower which is similar to the Eifel Tower in Paris and a little higher than the French one. The view of Tokyo from the observation deck showed a city which extends as far as the eye can see in every direction. It is quite amazing how the Japanese can keep a human element in such a large city but the little side streets are always clean and with flowers, trees are everywhere. We lucked out again as the Cherry blossoms were still in full bloom in this city. The tour visited the large Asakusa Kannon (built in 645) temple and dropped us off near the Ginza area. I asked the tour guide where we could have good sushi and he pointed to a little place just under the Japan Rail tracks headed into the Central Station. As it was only 5 pm we decided to walk to the Ginza street which is the main shopping street of Tokyo. It is a huge street lined with every trademark company stores from Rolex, to Gucci to Burberry and many more. We stopped in a sidewalk café and had a nice coffee while watching the population walk by. We then headed back to the sushi restaurant and sat down at the counter. A little belt goes around the counter with plates with different plates of sushi come by and one picks the ones one wants. Each type of sushi comes on different colored small plates. After the meal, the bill is prepared based on the number and color of the plates. We sat there and had a good meal. Emmett hat a great meal as he ate 15 different plates saying sushi was and is his favorite meal and he showed it that night!
We then headed back to the ship in Yokohama which took us a good 55 minutes on fast trains and Yokohama is considered a part of Tokyo. When we got back to the ship, the lights of Yokohama were in full force and were very beautiful. They love their lights in Asia.
The next morning we joined a ship organized trip to visit Mount Fuji and Hakone which are both about 50 miles south of Tokyo. The drive through the country certainly gave a different view of this country from what one sees in the big cities. It is a mountainous country in which only 13 % is arable and 73 % is mountainous. But the countryside is beautiful with high mountains and large valleys between them. We got to Mount Fuji which is about 2 hours from Tokyo along great highways but without views as there are sound barriers almost everywhere on Japanese freeways. But the drive up Mount Fuji to the fifth station at 3000 feet was really quite pleasant. The station had only opened a few weeks earlier and there were about 4 feet of snow still around. The views of this mountain are quite spectacular and more impressive than what one sees on postcards. The mountain is closed all year round except from July 1 to August 30th when the Japanese are allowed to climb the mountain. The views from station 5 into the valleys below were quite spectacular. We again lucked out with a clear sunny day so one could see the lakes which have formed from previous volcanoes around Mount Fuji. It looks very much like the Swiss alps albeit not quite as high. There is no skiing on the mountain which is considered sacred and is located in a national park.
After spending an hour we reboarded the bus and headed for Hakone which is locate on the range some 30 miles away from Mt Fuji. There we took a cable car which provided a further great view of Fuji as well as lake Ashi which itself is at about 1000 feet altitude. We all enjoyed the afternoon and after a short boat ride on the lake we headed back to the ship.
There the whole ship company had to disembark again and go through Japanese exit formalities which meant having our passports stamped by an emigration officer. This took an hour for most people and delayed our departure to 9pm. With 3 toots on the horn, we pulled away from the Yokohama pier and headed south out of the Tokyo Bay. As I do often, I stayed for well over an hour on the top deck watching our progress down the west shore of the Bay in a clear and full moon night. It was nice to be at sea again although it was the last we would see of Asia on this trip, we were now heading for home. We have 10 days at sea, including 2 Easters as we cross the date line. This will take us to Honolulu where we have 2 days before heading to our last port in Guatemala. Being at sea is nice and the sea routine settles back into place with classes and other activities. I will be working on my presentation to the student body scheduled for April 15th when I will be the morning speaker at Global Studies. I have been asked to talk about the World Bank, Japan and the Global crisis. All this in an hour presentation. I guess I will have to speak quickly to cover that much ground in the time available. More on that next time.
Cheers
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Travel Chapter 24- Japan 2009 (1)
Pictures for this chapter can be seen at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/akeyserlingk/Japan2009?feat=directlink
We sailed last night after two days in Kobe. The contrast between Japan and China is almost like coming from say South Africa to the UK. I had the distinct impression that China is a modern country being built but far from being modern. Yes, China has skyscrapers and subways but all of this is so new that it really has not yet fit into the real landscape of China. Japan is a modern society which has been modern for so long that it fits totally into the local scenery. Japan is as clean as a hospital, Japan has everything under control and under regulation, Japan is comfortable with the density of its cities, Japan is used to glitz and glanz. In China, many of the same things exist but they feel and look out of place with the rest of the country. China is a developing country which has built it glitz and glanz in the last 20 years while the rest of China seems stuck in the past. The Japanese are polite to the extreme; the Chinese are pushy to the extreme. People in China dump stuff in the street. In Japan, one could almost eat off the street. People in Japan speak in small voices; people in China are loud as everyone else is loud. In China the streets team with vendors pushing products on every passerby. In Japan, there are no street vendors, only shops with doors. In China, almost every building consists of sidewalk front little stores, shops, work areas with people crammed inside doing whatever they do for a living. In Japan, there are stores with doors, workshops in side streets and the cleanliness and order make Germany look like chaos…
But I still prefer China over Japan. Japan gives me the impression always that it is so developed there really is no where to go or to improve. It is a regimented society where everyone obeys the law and everybody is respectful to the extreme of the space of the next person. Japan’s society gives me the feeling that there is little room for people to be different and that conforming to the norms laid down by society is the proper way to move. China also has rules but they seem more like guidelines, suggestions or indications and everybody is pulling and shoving to achieve their own goals at any cost to their surroundings.
In China there are illegal tour guides, illegal bike taxis, illegal sellers of illegal fakes, illegal restaurants, illegal prostitutes and illegal all sorts of things and nobody does anything about it. In Japan, there is nothing illegal and if there were it would be stopped immediately.
China is still a developing country. It has amazing infrastructures but huge areas of poverty and destitution. China has a very rich upper class followed by a thin middle class with the vast majority of the population poor and outside the real economy. Japan, on the other hand, has a thin class of rich persons, followed by a huge middle class and very few really destitute persons. At times in Japan, I imagine I am seeing China 50 years from now if it is able to continue developing at the current rate. Japan is a highly developed country and such a level of development requires a high level of social organization given the density of its population. Given that only a small percentage of Japan’s area is habitable, the already high population density (327 per square km vs. China 119 and US 27) makes real population density extreme.
So there we arrived in Kobe, a city of 1.5 million persons with an infrastructure to die for. The passenger terminal was by far the best so far without the glanz of the shopping centre in the Hong Kong terminal. The big negative was the bureaucratic procedures involved in arriving in Japan. First the night before, the whole ship company, 1000 persons had to have their temperature taken by the ship’s medical team. Each person’s temperature was recorded and each person was then issued with a numbered quarantine card. The morning we arrived in Kobe, at 8 am, the whole ship company had to have their temperature taken again, this time by the Japanese authorities. We were then told to wait until called to go through Japanese immigration and custom procedures. This took well over 4 hours until the last persons were through this painstaking procedure which consisted of picking up one’s passport and forms already completed. Standing in line to eventually step up to some Japanese authority that required one to put each index finger in a reader and then the picture was taken. Then, without any luggage we had to go through an other screen of a customs officer who dutifully looked into the passport and at us and waived us through. As we were not going ashore immediately, we just turned around with out passports and went back on the ship. From them on we were free to come and go off and on the ship with whatever goods we would have wanted. Silly controls which do not control always amuse me. I think in fact the Japanese were doing this all to show their US visitors that they too can jack people around. Bearing in mind the way the US now handles arriving visitors almost as criminals: requiring visas which must be obtained before arriving and only after personal appearances at a US consulate, fingerprints on arrival, picture on arrival and potentially secondary treatment at immigration which can take several hours, I think the Japanese were doing a tit for tat.
By 1pm, after lunch on the ship, we walked out of the ship and onto the subway station which was 3 minutes from the ship. We had decided to jump the bus which made a tour of the city. It ran from the Sannomiya station where the metro ended. We found the bus and boarded a rather small bus which was full of tourists already. We had the pleasure of sitting on this fine bus listening to some Japanese girl babblings away in Japanese about something. Too bad they have not yet adopted the technology which one finds in some countries where the tour conversation is taped and available in several languages.
We decided to jump off the bus at the stop which leads to the bottom of the Kobe Ropeway, which in reality is a cable car rising some 3000 feet above the city. As often happens on these visits, we ran into a number of people from the ship who were also doing the same ride. In a very modern gondola for 6 we went up this rather steep mountain which is part of a chain running at the west of Kobe and through a good part of Japan. Kobe sits at the foot of this chain. On the top of the mountain, the view of Kobe was quite spectacular. Once more we were lucky with the weather and the view down on Kobe was very beautiful.
We then headed down to the city by cable car. When we got to the bottom, Emmett headed off back to the metro with Joan Knecht, our ship nurse. Brigitte and I then decided to walk back to the metro center as it was still light. It was quite a change to walk down a sidewalk which was not half used by people selling food, watches, pens, knives and many other things and not being approached by people offering their services or goods as is usually the case in the middle republic. We stopped in at a Japanese coffee and pastry shop where we had a small piece of cake and a cup of coffee. The bill came to the equivalent of US$12 but whose counting???
I then set on my tasks of finding a Japanese sim card for my phone and some foreign newspapers. All the way back to the center of town we stopped in at places where either or both of these things are available in most countries: hotels, telephone shops, convenience stores, drugstores. All to no avail. Sim cards do not seem available for purchase here according to the ten people I consulted. Not a large sample for such a large population but significant as two worked in shops selling phones. As far as I can tell so far they come with the phones as is the case in North America but I will continue to investigate. As for foreign newspapers, they are apparently just as rare. I finally found some later that evening when I returned alone to town after diner and went through a local department store. I was looking for an insulated coffee mug with a plunger as I am getting desperate because of the bad coffee on board the ship. I finally found an insulated cup but I was not willing to pay US$ 79 for the one cup so I settled on some filters with which I will make coffee I purchased in Vietnam. I found a book store on the 6 floor of this building and went wild buying an Economist magazine for US$11 and a financial times newspaper for 6 bucks. Well, it is only money…
While there I went to my favorite part of any store which is the electronics section. I can report that most electronics in Japan cost 2 to 3 times what they cost back in the US. I priced the flat screen TV and Sony blue ray DVD player we had bought about 5 months ago and they both cost almost 3 times what we paid in Virginia! I guess the locals support the industry so we can get our electronics cheaper.
The next day we went off on a ship organized trip in 2 large busses to Kyoto to visit the amazing temples of this city. Early on I realized that Brigitte and I had already done this tour back in 2004 but it was still fun to see these beautiful buildings. We were also blessed as exactly this week, the cherry and other blossoms are in their full glory. This is a huge event in Japan and is quite spectacular to see, as you can see from the pictures posted to the website.
When we got to the last site, Brigitte and I were templed out and slid out of the group and headed to a quiet restaurant looking out on a bubbling fountain. There we had a nice cup of copy and enjoyed the simplicity of Japanese interior decorating. It reminds me very much of the design one finds in Finland. Simple but beautiful using wood and stone and large open views of natural settings.
We got back to the ship in time for dinner. As it had been a long strenuous day, we decided to stay on board as the ship was leaving at 11pm that evening. The ship headed out at 11pm and we stood up forward on the 7th deck as it was a warm clear evening. Despite the late hour, Captain Jeremy insisted on sounding 3 long and loud toots on the horn as we moved out of the huge empty harbor of Kobe on our way to Yokahama, 450 miles away were we will arrive tomorrow morning.
This one day at sea is the first real cruise time we have had on the voyage. No classes, no meetings, no mandatory anything. As most people opted to stay on land and make their way to Tokyo or elsewhere on their own, there were only 250 people on board. It was a quiet day to read and catch up with work and play. Many students are at the end of their travel budgets so cannot really afford any expensive traveling with overnights and food at the costs in Japan. For us, it was a restful day without plans and without having to jump in and out a bus to view some wonderful relic of the past. That is strenuous work when it goes on for several hours. Tourism is not for the week. Beside the knowledge overflow which happens from the continuous talk of some local guide. It is all part of one’s education, but sometimes it is a little much.
Tomorrow we hit Tokyo. As my credit card had to be cancelled because someone used it fraudulently, I need to find the American Express office which will be the challenge of the day. Get from the ship to Yokahama and then to Tokyo and to the Amex office. It is kind of like a game. I will report more on this in the next chapter.
Cheers from calm see off Japan where we are cruising along at a slow pace of 11 knots.
http://picasaweb.google.com/akeyserlingk/Japan2009?feat=directlink
We sailed last night after two days in Kobe. The contrast between Japan and China is almost like coming from say South Africa to the UK. I had the distinct impression that China is a modern country being built but far from being modern. Yes, China has skyscrapers and subways but all of this is so new that it really has not yet fit into the real landscape of China. Japan is a modern society which has been modern for so long that it fits totally into the local scenery. Japan is as clean as a hospital, Japan has everything under control and under regulation, Japan is comfortable with the density of its cities, Japan is used to glitz and glanz. In China, many of the same things exist but they feel and look out of place with the rest of the country. China is a developing country which has built it glitz and glanz in the last 20 years while the rest of China seems stuck in the past. The Japanese are polite to the extreme; the Chinese are pushy to the extreme. People in China dump stuff in the street. In Japan, one could almost eat off the street. People in Japan speak in small voices; people in China are loud as everyone else is loud. In China the streets team with vendors pushing products on every passerby. In Japan, there are no street vendors, only shops with doors. In China, almost every building consists of sidewalk front little stores, shops, work areas with people crammed inside doing whatever they do for a living. In Japan, there are stores with doors, workshops in side streets and the cleanliness and order make Germany look like chaos…
But I still prefer China over Japan. Japan gives me the impression always that it is so developed there really is no where to go or to improve. It is a regimented society where everyone obeys the law and everybody is respectful to the extreme of the space of the next person. Japan’s society gives me the feeling that there is little room for people to be different and that conforming to the norms laid down by society is the proper way to move. China also has rules but they seem more like guidelines, suggestions or indications and everybody is pulling and shoving to achieve their own goals at any cost to their surroundings.
In China there are illegal tour guides, illegal bike taxis, illegal sellers of illegal fakes, illegal restaurants, illegal prostitutes and illegal all sorts of things and nobody does anything about it. In Japan, there is nothing illegal and if there were it would be stopped immediately.
China is still a developing country. It has amazing infrastructures but huge areas of poverty and destitution. China has a very rich upper class followed by a thin middle class with the vast majority of the population poor and outside the real economy. Japan, on the other hand, has a thin class of rich persons, followed by a huge middle class and very few really destitute persons. At times in Japan, I imagine I am seeing China 50 years from now if it is able to continue developing at the current rate. Japan is a highly developed country and such a level of development requires a high level of social organization given the density of its population. Given that only a small percentage of Japan’s area is habitable, the already high population density (327 per square km vs. China 119 and US 27) makes real population density extreme.
So there we arrived in Kobe, a city of 1.5 million persons with an infrastructure to die for. The passenger terminal was by far the best so far without the glanz of the shopping centre in the Hong Kong terminal. The big negative was the bureaucratic procedures involved in arriving in Japan. First the night before, the whole ship company, 1000 persons had to have their temperature taken by the ship’s medical team. Each person’s temperature was recorded and each person was then issued with a numbered quarantine card. The morning we arrived in Kobe, at 8 am, the whole ship company had to have their temperature taken again, this time by the Japanese authorities. We were then told to wait until called to go through Japanese immigration and custom procedures. This took well over 4 hours until the last persons were through this painstaking procedure which consisted of picking up one’s passport and forms already completed. Standing in line to eventually step up to some Japanese authority that required one to put each index finger in a reader and then the picture was taken. Then, without any luggage we had to go through an other screen of a customs officer who dutifully looked into the passport and at us and waived us through. As we were not going ashore immediately, we just turned around with out passports and went back on the ship. From them on we were free to come and go off and on the ship with whatever goods we would have wanted. Silly controls which do not control always amuse me. I think in fact the Japanese were doing this all to show their US visitors that they too can jack people around. Bearing in mind the way the US now handles arriving visitors almost as criminals: requiring visas which must be obtained before arriving and only after personal appearances at a US consulate, fingerprints on arrival, picture on arrival and potentially secondary treatment at immigration which can take several hours, I think the Japanese were doing a tit for tat.
By 1pm, after lunch on the ship, we walked out of the ship and onto the subway station which was 3 minutes from the ship. We had decided to jump the bus which made a tour of the city. It ran from the Sannomiya station where the metro ended. We found the bus and boarded a rather small bus which was full of tourists already. We had the pleasure of sitting on this fine bus listening to some Japanese girl babblings away in Japanese about something. Too bad they have not yet adopted the technology which one finds in some countries where the tour conversation is taped and available in several languages.
We decided to jump off the bus at the stop which leads to the bottom of the Kobe Ropeway, which in reality is a cable car rising some 3000 feet above the city. As often happens on these visits, we ran into a number of people from the ship who were also doing the same ride. In a very modern gondola for 6 we went up this rather steep mountain which is part of a chain running at the west of Kobe and through a good part of Japan. Kobe sits at the foot of this chain. On the top of the mountain, the view of Kobe was quite spectacular. Once more we were lucky with the weather and the view down on Kobe was very beautiful.
We then headed down to the city by cable car. When we got to the bottom, Emmett headed off back to the metro with Joan Knecht, our ship nurse. Brigitte and I then decided to walk back to the metro center as it was still light. It was quite a change to walk down a sidewalk which was not half used by people selling food, watches, pens, knives and many other things and not being approached by people offering their services or goods as is usually the case in the middle republic. We stopped in at a Japanese coffee and pastry shop where we had a small piece of cake and a cup of coffee. The bill came to the equivalent of US$12 but whose counting???
I then set on my tasks of finding a Japanese sim card for my phone and some foreign newspapers. All the way back to the center of town we stopped in at places where either or both of these things are available in most countries: hotels, telephone shops, convenience stores, drugstores. All to no avail. Sim cards do not seem available for purchase here according to the ten people I consulted. Not a large sample for such a large population but significant as two worked in shops selling phones. As far as I can tell so far they come with the phones as is the case in North America but I will continue to investigate. As for foreign newspapers, they are apparently just as rare. I finally found some later that evening when I returned alone to town after diner and went through a local department store. I was looking for an insulated coffee mug with a plunger as I am getting desperate because of the bad coffee on board the ship. I finally found an insulated cup but I was not willing to pay US$ 79 for the one cup so I settled on some filters with which I will make coffee I purchased in Vietnam. I found a book store on the 6 floor of this building and went wild buying an Economist magazine for US$11 and a financial times newspaper for 6 bucks. Well, it is only money…
While there I went to my favorite part of any store which is the electronics section. I can report that most electronics in Japan cost 2 to 3 times what they cost back in the US. I priced the flat screen TV and Sony blue ray DVD player we had bought about 5 months ago and they both cost almost 3 times what we paid in Virginia! I guess the locals support the industry so we can get our electronics cheaper.
The next day we went off on a ship organized trip in 2 large busses to Kyoto to visit the amazing temples of this city. Early on I realized that Brigitte and I had already done this tour back in 2004 but it was still fun to see these beautiful buildings. We were also blessed as exactly this week, the cherry and other blossoms are in their full glory. This is a huge event in Japan and is quite spectacular to see, as you can see from the pictures posted to the website.
When we got to the last site, Brigitte and I were templed out and slid out of the group and headed to a quiet restaurant looking out on a bubbling fountain. There we had a nice cup of copy and enjoyed the simplicity of Japanese interior decorating. It reminds me very much of the design one finds in Finland. Simple but beautiful using wood and stone and large open views of natural settings.
We got back to the ship in time for dinner. As it had been a long strenuous day, we decided to stay on board as the ship was leaving at 11pm that evening. The ship headed out at 11pm and we stood up forward on the 7th deck as it was a warm clear evening. Despite the late hour, Captain Jeremy insisted on sounding 3 long and loud toots on the horn as we moved out of the huge empty harbor of Kobe on our way to Yokahama, 450 miles away were we will arrive tomorrow morning.
This one day at sea is the first real cruise time we have had on the voyage. No classes, no meetings, no mandatory anything. As most people opted to stay on land and make their way to Tokyo or elsewhere on their own, there were only 250 people on board. It was a quiet day to read and catch up with work and play. Many students are at the end of their travel budgets so cannot really afford any expensive traveling with overnights and food at the costs in Japan. For us, it was a restful day without plans and without having to jump in and out a bus to view some wonderful relic of the past. That is strenuous work when it goes on for several hours. Tourism is not for the week. Beside the knowledge overflow which happens from the continuous talk of some local guide. It is all part of one’s education, but sometimes it is a little much.
Tomorrow we hit Tokyo. As my credit card had to be cancelled because someone used it fraudulently, I need to find the American Express office which will be the challenge of the day. Get from the ship to Yokahama and then to Tokyo and to the Amex office. It is kind of like a game. I will report more on this in the next chapter.
Cheers from calm see off Japan where we are cruising along at a slow pace of 11 knots.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Travel Chapter 23- China
Pictures of this trip can be seen at the address below. There are a lot of pictures but they are part of our memory of these days.
http://picasaweb.google.com/akeyserlingk/China2009?feat=directlink
We are now two days away from China and I am going to try and report on our 5 days in China. To start, I must say that I was overwhelmed by what we saw in China on this trip. It had been 5 years since our last trip and the progress noted back then has continued at the usual Chinese breakneck speed. The country is putting masses of resources into building up its own infrastructure and in bringing the country into the 21rst century. New roads, new buildings, new airports, new trains are seen everywhere. One sees now where much of the money earned by China is going. Masses of resources are being expended to ensure the country becomes a long term player in the world. With its own internal market so large, China will be able to compete on the international market for as long as it remains a stable country.
This stability is the one area where I am concerned. It is quite obvious that China is able to do what it is doing because it has a very strong central government which is making the hard decisions. It does not need to consult with the people, with groups or with anyone. What the party decides is done. What the party decides is good for the country is done. The planning and execution of the works one sees throughout China are the result of the power wielded by the Communist Party in Beijing. Works which would take years obtaining the necessary approvals in western democracies are done immediately a decision by the party is made. The build-up of China is only 15 to 20 years old yet the country is on par and exceeds the infrastructures we have in many of our countries. Everything is new in China. Whole airplane fleets are the latest models, airports are built not to meet needs of a decade ago, but to meet the needs of decades in the future. Road systems are in place long before their carrying capacity has been met. Trains run at high speeds all over most of the country on rails which have been laid in recent years. The pollution of Beijing which was legendary has almost be legislated away by means such as moving polluting industries away from the city and banning motorcycles totally from the city. The last time we were in Beijing, traffic and pollution were so bad due to exhausts from millions of motor bikes one could hardly breathe, let alone cross a street with first writing one’s last will. Most of the taxis in Beijing today run on electric motors and there are many hundred thousand of them no long polluting the air. As a result of the Olympics, Beijing has learnt how to improve its quality of air and has put that in place by decree. This is perhaps a weakness in the eyes of some, but from a practical point of view the country is benefiting now and will benefit from the current efforts for many years in the future.
China is so large that we outsiders cannot really grasp its extent. It is not a county as we define it; China is rather a continent which has been unified by force and decree. This is what holds it together. A decree in the late 50’s stated that the national language would be Chinese as spoken in Beijing, which is known in the west as Mandarin. This decree flew in the face of existing languages but was forced on all Chinese people. Bear in mind that in China there are hundreds of dialects or regionalects so that there really is nor has there ever been a Chinese language. The people in Shanghai speak Shanghaiese, those in the south speak Cantonese and neither group understands the other. With decree forcing the Mandarin speak on everybody, one now has 2 generations of Chinese who have been taught and who can speak Mandarin. They still speak their regionalects but they also speak and understand Mandarin. This has unified the country in a big way. Only a powerful central government could enact and enforce this kind of legislation. It has worked to allow all regions to understand each other. This kind of change not only requires a powerful central government but one who has the staying power to ensure that the efforts continue for several generations so that the common language becomes radicated in everyone’s mind.
The worry I have after the few days in China is whether the central government is now isolating itself too much from the people. There is cynicism abounding in China about the central government much of it driven by the obvious abuse of power the politicians show the people. Big fat black limousines circulate with sirens blaring through the traffic, politicians block off huge areas which are forbidden to the people, and corruption of politicians is rampant which then spills down to lower level officials. One effect of this is that there is very little respect for the Party and even more concerning is the inability of the Party to recruit young people. Today I understand that only 1 to 2% of the population belongs to the Party. What will happen when the old folk who run the party die off? Where is the next generation who will continue? One has to worry that this could cause a breakdown in power and a loss of the ability to make the hard and fast decisions China still needs to progress fully into the 21rst century.
But enough on that; let me record what we did and saw during our 5 great days in this fascinating country, or continent to be more precise.
We arrived right on schedule in Kowloon on the morning of March 29th which gave us a few hours before we headed to the airport for our flight to Xi’an. The ship was again parked right beside the Star ferry terminal so as soon as we were cleared we got off the ship and headed through the amazing shopping mall which makes up the passenger terminal on Kowloon. We jumped on the ferry so that Emmett could get a quick view of Hong Kong which is across the water from Kowloon. We had time to amble the streets for an hour or two and even though it was Sunday morning, the stores and shops were all open for business. The people were in the streets and life was open for business.
We then got back on the ferry and returned to our ship to pick up our knapsacks as we were to meet our driver in front of the Marco Polo hotel which is in the same shopping complex. Sure enough, there was Wilson awaiting us at the appointed time and place and we headed out to the new airport of Hong Kong. What is amazing about this airport besides being the most convenient airport in the world is the fact that the entire infrastructure is in place to move people to and from the airport. There is a brand new road system with double decked bridges going from Hong Kong to the airport, there is a high speed train connection the airport to the city and there is a myriad of busses and taxis also available to make the trip of some 35 miles in roughly 40 minutes at most times of day. Once at the airport, we checked in and proceed to go through emigration as one needs to leave the special area of Hong Kong to travel to the mainland. The procedure is the same as leaving for any foreign country and is part of the undertaking of the Chinese government to provide the Hong Kong area with a special status for 50 years from the take back from the UK in the 90’s. We then had a leisurely 20 minute walk to arrive at out gate for the flight to Xi’an. The flight itself was a little over 2 hours with wonderful service of a meal in a brand new airbus 320. On arrival in Xi’an one first goes through a machine which measures one’s temperature as the Chinese are very worried of a new outbreak of Sars. The measurement is done very subtly and most people do not even notice the little machine through which one walks while an infrared light reads the temperature to an agent seated in the booth.
In the airport we met Nichole, one of our fellow travelers who was traveling on her own in China. We found our guide and driver and they agreed to take Nichole to her hotel and to help her book the train to Beijing for her. We checked into our hotel which was a state-owned hotel. I found out a few days later that the agency with which I had done all the bookings was also state-owned. It seems the government has not privatized everything in China.
That evening I went for a long walk around our hotel. It was fun as it was the first time I had been able to use the Chinese I had been studying for the 18 prior to this trip. Not being of a shy nature, I went into to stores seeking more conversation than to buy anything. I started putting meaningful sentences together and I was quite pleased how I was progressing.
The next morning our guide and driver were waiting for us at the hotel and we headed to the Terra Cotta museum. This is an enormous site where excavations of the warriors has now been stopped. Just the size of the building which has been constructed over the dig is impressive as you can see from the pictures on the website. The actual size of this site is hard to fathom without actually going there.
After lunch at a state-owned restaurant which typically consists of a market offering the great assortment of Chinese made products, I spied a North face parka. It was obviously a knock-off given the price I paid but it does give an indication of how lax the Chinese authorities are on blatant Trademark violations. There are so many people who earn their keep making and selling fakes that the government cannot crackdown on them. So rather than cracking down, they sell them in the government shops. Emmett tried his new North face jacket and was quite proud of his new acquisition. You can see him wearing it almost continuously in the pictures of this section.
Next on the agenda was a visit to the Qin dynasty summer palace. Like all ancient objects, this one has undergone a major rehab in recent years in preparation for the Olympics. We had a quick look and then noticed that there was a gondola lift to the top of the mountain. As this was not on our program we had to pay for it but it was worth it. It was particularly fun as our guide Qing had never been on such a machine. She was scared stiff to ride on it but convinced her to come along. Like a good trooper she came and enjoyed the trip very much.
That evening we were booked on a sleeper train (Soft bed) from Xi’an to Beijing. After yet another Chinese meal we were escorted by Qing to the train station. It was teeming with people and it was a good thing we had her with us to guide us through the mass of people. We got to the soft sleeper waiting lounge where she left us. She had been an excellent guide and we thanked her appropriately. The waiting room was quiet and we sat there until our train was called. In a reasonably orderly fashion we went to our platform, found our car and boarded the train. We then found our compartment and settled into the very clean and well appointed cabin. We had the two lower sleepers and Emm had one of the uppers. The second upper was taken by some lady who Emmett thought was from Tibet. She never said a word during the whole time. After a bit of reading we all settled down for a good sleep after a full day of visits.
The next morning after an 11 hour ride on a fast train having covered over a 1000 miles, we awoke in Beijing to be greeted on the platform by Ting, our Beijing guide. She showed us the way out of the Beijing soft sleeper station which was not at all chaotic as had been the station in Xi’an We boarded our bus and headed for a Chinese breakfast as laid out in our program. As there was no toilet in the restaurant we decided to go next door to a McDonald to have a coffee and to use the loo. We found the toilet to be a standing toilet, not a sit-down one. Although the standing toilet is probably more sanitary it does take a bit of training.
We then headed off to visit Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City which lies behind the square. It was a beautiful morning with blue skies and sun albeit a bit nippy. We walked through this huge square which carries the sad memory of the massacre of protesters back in 1989. It was not an event the Chinese like remembering and the collective memory has been suppressed by the authorities. But those who do remember it still do not forgive the authorities for their action. Not only were several thousand killed, many more witnessed the brutality of that day and even more had friends or relatives who were victims of the near panic of the authorities who had never witnessed the fury of the Chinese people. It scared the authorities to such a point that it was the beginning of the opening of the economy as we now see it. They said, ok, we will open the economy but we will control the politics. It diffused the anger to a point and has led to the economic boom China saw until recently. It remains to be seen if the downturn now going on does not have terrible consequence again.
We walked all the way through the forbidden city which is almost 2 kms long going from one building to the next in a very well maintained series of buildings. Much work had been done to spruce up this palace in the run-up to the Olympics. It is quite amazing how much effort the communist government puts into showing off these relics of the past. I presume it is because it legitimizes their own regime by showing themselves as the continuation or as the improvement over the past. The extent of this palace is astounding not for the height of buildings but for the number of them spread over this 2 mile long and one half mile wide collection of temples, housing etc..
After another state owned restaurant we headed out to visit the summer palace which again is a huge complex of buildings all in pristine condition.
After a long day, we headed home to our hotel to check in and to have dinner. We had invited a friend of our son Nicolas to dinner. Nick had asked us to meet with Brian Watling who is a Canadian based in Beijing. Nick sits on the board of one of Brian’s companies involved in power generation using wind turbines. Brian joined us at a close-by hotpot restaurant and we benefitted from his insights into China where he has lived for the last several years.
Early the next morning we were off to see the Great Wall of China, which the Chinese call the Long Wall. One has to drive about an hour and half out of Beijing including a substantial amount of hill climbing to arrive at the foot of a gondola which takes one to the top. I opted to go for the gondola as it does save considerable energy compared to hoofing it to the wall. Once on the wall we spent over 2 hours as it was again a beautiful day and Emmett could not get enough of it. I walked with him part of the way and then sent him off on his own with instructions to turn around when he was starting to feel tired. He did return somewhat out of breath about 40 minutes later. Brigitte and our guide stayed at the top and awaited our return. It is still a very impressive visit to see the extent of this construction.
In the afternoon we visited an other palace. We then headed to visit my Chinese language school. I had been working with Echineselearning for over a year. This virtual school employs some 60 teachers and does all its teaching using Skype or MSN which are free internet communication tools. A brilliant idea developed by its founder Fred Rao. For me it was quite a visit as I had never seen any of my teachers in real life and had only seen their faces. We arrived at the school and my teacher, Hao Jie came out to the street to receive us and show us back to the school premises. I think we caused quite a stir in the school as I had been taught by many of the teachers whenever Hao Jie was not available so I, Wang Da Wei, was well known to many of the teachers. The CEO of the company came out and greeted us and we had an interesting chat. I told him that I intended to come back to Beijing in October to take a 4 to 5 week intensive course at Echineselearning. Fred was quite interested in the idea and offered to help me find some quarters I could use while in Beijing. Hoa Jie was quite sweet and had brought presents for Brigitte and me. We also had brought her presents for her and her baby which is due later in the year.
After parting our ways from the school, we had a early dinner and we then went straight to the station as we were taking the night train again, this time to Shanghai which is 1900kms to the south. Again, the train proved to be clean and comfortable. The train was a high speed train which can reach 390 kms per hour (over 200 mph) on specially laid tracks which allow these high speeds. During the night the train changed speeds quite often which would indicate that the new track is still not completely in place.
We arrived in Shanghai again after an 11 hour trip and found our Shanghai guide, Tao waiting on the platform. After a breakfast, we headed to our ship to deposit our bags but found that a large group of students had arrived just before us and a long line of people were waiting to board the ship. So we headed back out to visit the Bund area of the city. This is the area where the foreigners lived. It was a concession rung from the Chinese following the opium wars. There is still resentment amongst some Chinese that the authorities at the time gave away these rights to foreigners. This was run as a separate enclave where Chinese law did not prevail and Chinese were not allowed to live unless authorized. The Bund still has most of the main buildings as neither the Chinese nor the Japanese wanted to incite the fury of the foreigners by bombing these buildings. Across from the Bund, on the other side of the river there stand a collection of the most modern skyscrapers in the world, except perhaps in Dubai. These buildings are not only huge but they are beautifully designed. They stand today in what were rice fields 15 years ago. This city is no doubt the showcase city of China and the Chinese are very proud of this.
In the afternoon, we spent time visiting the shopping area of old Shanghai as well as the adjoining Lu gardens. It was a pleasant way to end our stay in China. We went back to this area after lunch again to get a Starbucks coffee and found that the place was teeming with police. When we asked what this was all about we were told that Musharaf, the former president of Pakistan was finishing lunch in the restaurant and was about to come out. So Emmett and I took a strategic position to observe Mr. Musharaf. Sure enough, he came out of the restaurant but instead of heading straight to the street and awaiting limos, he decided to work the crowd which had assembled. He went from side to side talking to people. The Chinese police did not enjoy this as they tried to steer him along. As he approach the end of the passage to his car, he turned towards Emmett and approached him. He asked Emmett where he was from to which Emmett stated “Canada”. Very good said Musharaf and proceeded to get in his car. Why the Chinese were giving him the royal treatment as was after all the deposed head of Pakistan is not clear. Perhaps they had debts to pay to him. Emmett was thrilled.
We boarded our ship and at 8pm we slipped our moorings and headed down the river towards the sea. The city was lit up like I have never seen a city and really looked wonderful. I stayed on deck for over an hour and all along both banks of the river were ships and moorings and factories and more ships. It was a fitting end to our visit to China. I left with a little better understanding of this country and look forward to coming back to learn more.
Cheers
http://picasaweb.google.com/akeyserlingk/China2009?feat=directlink
We are now two days away from China and I am going to try and report on our 5 days in China. To start, I must say that I was overwhelmed by what we saw in China on this trip. It had been 5 years since our last trip and the progress noted back then has continued at the usual Chinese breakneck speed. The country is putting masses of resources into building up its own infrastructure and in bringing the country into the 21rst century. New roads, new buildings, new airports, new trains are seen everywhere. One sees now where much of the money earned by China is going. Masses of resources are being expended to ensure the country becomes a long term player in the world. With its own internal market so large, China will be able to compete on the international market for as long as it remains a stable country.
This stability is the one area where I am concerned. It is quite obvious that China is able to do what it is doing because it has a very strong central government which is making the hard decisions. It does not need to consult with the people, with groups or with anyone. What the party decides is done. What the party decides is good for the country is done. The planning and execution of the works one sees throughout China are the result of the power wielded by the Communist Party in Beijing. Works which would take years obtaining the necessary approvals in western democracies are done immediately a decision by the party is made. The build-up of China is only 15 to 20 years old yet the country is on par and exceeds the infrastructures we have in many of our countries. Everything is new in China. Whole airplane fleets are the latest models, airports are built not to meet needs of a decade ago, but to meet the needs of decades in the future. Road systems are in place long before their carrying capacity has been met. Trains run at high speeds all over most of the country on rails which have been laid in recent years. The pollution of Beijing which was legendary has almost be legislated away by means such as moving polluting industries away from the city and banning motorcycles totally from the city. The last time we were in Beijing, traffic and pollution were so bad due to exhausts from millions of motor bikes one could hardly breathe, let alone cross a street with first writing one’s last will. Most of the taxis in Beijing today run on electric motors and there are many hundred thousand of them no long polluting the air. As a result of the Olympics, Beijing has learnt how to improve its quality of air and has put that in place by decree. This is perhaps a weakness in the eyes of some, but from a practical point of view the country is benefiting now and will benefit from the current efforts for many years in the future.
China is so large that we outsiders cannot really grasp its extent. It is not a county as we define it; China is rather a continent which has been unified by force and decree. This is what holds it together. A decree in the late 50’s stated that the national language would be Chinese as spoken in Beijing, which is known in the west as Mandarin. This decree flew in the face of existing languages but was forced on all Chinese people. Bear in mind that in China there are hundreds of dialects or regionalects so that there really is nor has there ever been a Chinese language. The people in Shanghai speak Shanghaiese, those in the south speak Cantonese and neither group understands the other. With decree forcing the Mandarin speak on everybody, one now has 2 generations of Chinese who have been taught and who can speak Mandarin. They still speak their regionalects but they also speak and understand Mandarin. This has unified the country in a big way. Only a powerful central government could enact and enforce this kind of legislation. It has worked to allow all regions to understand each other. This kind of change not only requires a powerful central government but one who has the staying power to ensure that the efforts continue for several generations so that the common language becomes radicated in everyone’s mind.
The worry I have after the few days in China is whether the central government is now isolating itself too much from the people. There is cynicism abounding in China about the central government much of it driven by the obvious abuse of power the politicians show the people. Big fat black limousines circulate with sirens blaring through the traffic, politicians block off huge areas which are forbidden to the people, and corruption of politicians is rampant which then spills down to lower level officials. One effect of this is that there is very little respect for the Party and even more concerning is the inability of the Party to recruit young people. Today I understand that only 1 to 2% of the population belongs to the Party. What will happen when the old folk who run the party die off? Where is the next generation who will continue? One has to worry that this could cause a breakdown in power and a loss of the ability to make the hard and fast decisions China still needs to progress fully into the 21rst century.
But enough on that; let me record what we did and saw during our 5 great days in this fascinating country, or continent to be more precise.
We arrived right on schedule in Kowloon on the morning of March 29th which gave us a few hours before we headed to the airport for our flight to Xi’an. The ship was again parked right beside the Star ferry terminal so as soon as we were cleared we got off the ship and headed through the amazing shopping mall which makes up the passenger terminal on Kowloon. We jumped on the ferry so that Emmett could get a quick view of Hong Kong which is across the water from Kowloon. We had time to amble the streets for an hour or two and even though it was Sunday morning, the stores and shops were all open for business. The people were in the streets and life was open for business.
We then got back on the ferry and returned to our ship to pick up our knapsacks as we were to meet our driver in front of the Marco Polo hotel which is in the same shopping complex. Sure enough, there was Wilson awaiting us at the appointed time and place and we headed out to the new airport of Hong Kong. What is amazing about this airport besides being the most convenient airport in the world is the fact that the entire infrastructure is in place to move people to and from the airport. There is a brand new road system with double decked bridges going from Hong Kong to the airport, there is a high speed train connection the airport to the city and there is a myriad of busses and taxis also available to make the trip of some 35 miles in roughly 40 minutes at most times of day. Once at the airport, we checked in and proceed to go through emigration as one needs to leave the special area of Hong Kong to travel to the mainland. The procedure is the same as leaving for any foreign country and is part of the undertaking of the Chinese government to provide the Hong Kong area with a special status for 50 years from the take back from the UK in the 90’s. We then had a leisurely 20 minute walk to arrive at out gate for the flight to Xi’an. The flight itself was a little over 2 hours with wonderful service of a meal in a brand new airbus 320. On arrival in Xi’an one first goes through a machine which measures one’s temperature as the Chinese are very worried of a new outbreak of Sars. The measurement is done very subtly and most people do not even notice the little machine through which one walks while an infrared light reads the temperature to an agent seated in the booth.
In the airport we met Nichole, one of our fellow travelers who was traveling on her own in China. We found our guide and driver and they agreed to take Nichole to her hotel and to help her book the train to Beijing for her. We checked into our hotel which was a state-owned hotel. I found out a few days later that the agency with which I had done all the bookings was also state-owned. It seems the government has not privatized everything in China.
That evening I went for a long walk around our hotel. It was fun as it was the first time I had been able to use the Chinese I had been studying for the 18 prior to this trip. Not being of a shy nature, I went into to stores seeking more conversation than to buy anything. I started putting meaningful sentences together and I was quite pleased how I was progressing.
The next morning our guide and driver were waiting for us at the hotel and we headed to the Terra Cotta museum. This is an enormous site where excavations of the warriors has now been stopped. Just the size of the building which has been constructed over the dig is impressive as you can see from the pictures on the website. The actual size of this site is hard to fathom without actually going there.
After lunch at a state-owned restaurant which typically consists of a market offering the great assortment of Chinese made products, I spied a North face parka. It was obviously a knock-off given the price I paid but it does give an indication of how lax the Chinese authorities are on blatant Trademark violations. There are so many people who earn their keep making and selling fakes that the government cannot crackdown on them. So rather than cracking down, they sell them in the government shops. Emmett tried his new North face jacket and was quite proud of his new acquisition. You can see him wearing it almost continuously in the pictures of this section.
Next on the agenda was a visit to the Qin dynasty summer palace. Like all ancient objects, this one has undergone a major rehab in recent years in preparation for the Olympics. We had a quick look and then noticed that there was a gondola lift to the top of the mountain. As this was not on our program we had to pay for it but it was worth it. It was particularly fun as our guide Qing had never been on such a machine. She was scared stiff to ride on it but convinced her to come along. Like a good trooper she came and enjoyed the trip very much.
That evening we were booked on a sleeper train (Soft bed) from Xi’an to Beijing. After yet another Chinese meal we were escorted by Qing to the train station. It was teeming with people and it was a good thing we had her with us to guide us through the mass of people. We got to the soft sleeper waiting lounge where she left us. She had been an excellent guide and we thanked her appropriately. The waiting room was quiet and we sat there until our train was called. In a reasonably orderly fashion we went to our platform, found our car and boarded the train. We then found our compartment and settled into the very clean and well appointed cabin. We had the two lower sleepers and Emm had one of the uppers. The second upper was taken by some lady who Emmett thought was from Tibet. She never said a word during the whole time. After a bit of reading we all settled down for a good sleep after a full day of visits.
The next morning after an 11 hour ride on a fast train having covered over a 1000 miles, we awoke in Beijing to be greeted on the platform by Ting, our Beijing guide. She showed us the way out of the Beijing soft sleeper station which was not at all chaotic as had been the station in Xi’an We boarded our bus and headed for a Chinese breakfast as laid out in our program. As there was no toilet in the restaurant we decided to go next door to a McDonald to have a coffee and to use the loo. We found the toilet to be a standing toilet, not a sit-down one. Although the standing toilet is probably more sanitary it does take a bit of training.
We then headed off to visit Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City which lies behind the square. It was a beautiful morning with blue skies and sun albeit a bit nippy. We walked through this huge square which carries the sad memory of the massacre of protesters back in 1989. It was not an event the Chinese like remembering and the collective memory has been suppressed by the authorities. But those who do remember it still do not forgive the authorities for their action. Not only were several thousand killed, many more witnessed the brutality of that day and even more had friends or relatives who were victims of the near panic of the authorities who had never witnessed the fury of the Chinese people. It scared the authorities to such a point that it was the beginning of the opening of the economy as we now see it. They said, ok, we will open the economy but we will control the politics. It diffused the anger to a point and has led to the economic boom China saw until recently. It remains to be seen if the downturn now going on does not have terrible consequence again.
We walked all the way through the forbidden city which is almost 2 kms long going from one building to the next in a very well maintained series of buildings. Much work had been done to spruce up this palace in the run-up to the Olympics. It is quite amazing how much effort the communist government puts into showing off these relics of the past. I presume it is because it legitimizes their own regime by showing themselves as the continuation or as the improvement over the past. The extent of this palace is astounding not for the height of buildings but for the number of them spread over this 2 mile long and one half mile wide collection of temples, housing etc..
After another state owned restaurant we headed out to visit the summer palace which again is a huge complex of buildings all in pristine condition.
After a long day, we headed home to our hotel to check in and to have dinner. We had invited a friend of our son Nicolas to dinner. Nick had asked us to meet with Brian Watling who is a Canadian based in Beijing. Nick sits on the board of one of Brian’s companies involved in power generation using wind turbines. Brian joined us at a close-by hotpot restaurant and we benefitted from his insights into China where he has lived for the last several years.
Early the next morning we were off to see the Great Wall of China, which the Chinese call the Long Wall. One has to drive about an hour and half out of Beijing including a substantial amount of hill climbing to arrive at the foot of a gondola which takes one to the top. I opted to go for the gondola as it does save considerable energy compared to hoofing it to the wall. Once on the wall we spent over 2 hours as it was again a beautiful day and Emmett could not get enough of it. I walked with him part of the way and then sent him off on his own with instructions to turn around when he was starting to feel tired. He did return somewhat out of breath about 40 minutes later. Brigitte and our guide stayed at the top and awaited our return. It is still a very impressive visit to see the extent of this construction.
In the afternoon we visited an other palace. We then headed to visit my Chinese language school. I had been working with Echineselearning for over a year. This virtual school employs some 60 teachers and does all its teaching using Skype or MSN which are free internet communication tools. A brilliant idea developed by its founder Fred Rao. For me it was quite a visit as I had never seen any of my teachers in real life and had only seen their faces. We arrived at the school and my teacher, Hao Jie came out to the street to receive us and show us back to the school premises. I think we caused quite a stir in the school as I had been taught by many of the teachers whenever Hao Jie was not available so I, Wang Da Wei, was well known to many of the teachers. The CEO of the company came out and greeted us and we had an interesting chat. I told him that I intended to come back to Beijing in October to take a 4 to 5 week intensive course at Echineselearning. Fred was quite interested in the idea and offered to help me find some quarters I could use while in Beijing. Hoa Jie was quite sweet and had brought presents for Brigitte and me. We also had brought her presents for her and her baby which is due later in the year.
After parting our ways from the school, we had a early dinner and we then went straight to the station as we were taking the night train again, this time to Shanghai which is 1900kms to the south. Again, the train proved to be clean and comfortable. The train was a high speed train which can reach 390 kms per hour (over 200 mph) on specially laid tracks which allow these high speeds. During the night the train changed speeds quite often which would indicate that the new track is still not completely in place.
We arrived in Shanghai again after an 11 hour trip and found our Shanghai guide, Tao waiting on the platform. After a breakfast, we headed to our ship to deposit our bags but found that a large group of students had arrived just before us and a long line of people were waiting to board the ship. So we headed back out to visit the Bund area of the city. This is the area where the foreigners lived. It was a concession rung from the Chinese following the opium wars. There is still resentment amongst some Chinese that the authorities at the time gave away these rights to foreigners. This was run as a separate enclave where Chinese law did not prevail and Chinese were not allowed to live unless authorized. The Bund still has most of the main buildings as neither the Chinese nor the Japanese wanted to incite the fury of the foreigners by bombing these buildings. Across from the Bund, on the other side of the river there stand a collection of the most modern skyscrapers in the world, except perhaps in Dubai. These buildings are not only huge but they are beautifully designed. They stand today in what were rice fields 15 years ago. This city is no doubt the showcase city of China and the Chinese are very proud of this.
In the afternoon, we spent time visiting the shopping area of old Shanghai as well as the adjoining Lu gardens. It was a pleasant way to end our stay in China. We went back to this area after lunch again to get a Starbucks coffee and found that the place was teeming with police. When we asked what this was all about we were told that Musharaf, the former president of Pakistan was finishing lunch in the restaurant and was about to come out. So Emmett and I took a strategic position to observe Mr. Musharaf. Sure enough, he came out of the restaurant but instead of heading straight to the street and awaiting limos, he decided to work the crowd which had assembled. He went from side to side talking to people. The Chinese police did not enjoy this as they tried to steer him along. As he approach the end of the passage to his car, he turned towards Emmett and approached him. He asked Emmett where he was from to which Emmett stated “Canada”. Very good said Musharaf and proceeded to get in his car. Why the Chinese were giving him the royal treatment as was after all the deposed head of Pakistan is not clear. Perhaps they had debts to pay to him. Emmett was thrilled.
We boarded our ship and at 8pm we slipped our moorings and headed down the river towards the sea. The city was lit up like I have never seen a city and really looked wonderful. I stayed on deck for over an hour and all along both banks of the river were ships and moorings and factories and more ships. It was a fitting end to our visit to China. I left with a little better understanding of this country and look forward to coming back to learn more.
Cheers
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