Thailand

Sandy and I chose to visit an elephant sanctuary on this visit to Thailand. We come back to Thailand later in the week. A quick update on where we are. Tomorrow we dock in Singapore and complete the third of four legs of our round the world adventure. It is more than we thought and has surpassed all of our expectations. Our last leg on the Queen Victoria is from Singapore to Southhampton, England where we arrive on the 20th of April. We then board the Queen Mary for our trip home arriving on the 26th.
It was an hour drive to the sanctuary and many, many more cars then scooters. Very clean shops along the way closed up with air conditioning. Thailand is prospering.
The elephants were wonderful and performed for us all. Some of our travel mates rode the elephants into the water for baths and we all enjoyed the dunking. We then were taught how to mount an elephant by standing on the extended leg grabbing hold of the ear and jumping and pulling up and swinging your leg over the neck. I had a chance to ride so I put my right foot on the elephants extended leg and grabbed hold of the ear but I didn’t really want to pull it so I just lightly gripped it and then leapt and pulled up and moved about an inch. Several guys pushed my foot and leg and slowly scrunched me up the side and the elephant master (sits behind on the elephant) pushed my leg over the neck and there I was on top of the world. All and all an awkward beginning of my elephant riding career! A bit unsteady and feeling a bit like you will fall off at any second it is a wonderful experience as you lumber along. Dismounting is quite civilized as the elephant approaches a stand and you climb onto it and then go down a flight of stairs.
Sandy’s back was acting up and we had been told that we would be able to ride together on a bench seat that we could mount from the platform so she didn’t try to climb up to ride. Unfortunately, at the end of the show there was not time for rides as we were being rushed to a “shopping experience” at an upscale gift shop the turned out to be quite disappointment. So no elephant ride for Sandy.
But, You should have seen her In the show. They brought an elephant right into the audience and we were sitting in the front row. People scattered but not our Sandy. She sat calmly right in front of the elephant and fed her bananas! She patted the trunk and place a banana right into the trunk as the elephant swung it into her mouth. All the while as calm as can be is our Sandy. They could have touched nose to trunk and most amazing foot to foot. This is a another memory that will stay forever.
OK, we’re somewhat up to date.
Till next time

We have made two stops in Vietnam. The first was a lovely beach area mid-country in an area called Nha Trang. We toured a local kindergarten and the four year old boys and girls lined up and sang to us. The boys were lined up in two columns of about four each and the girls in columns of four each in the middle of the boys. Each class has two teachers. The kids were happy and loved singing. Our guide suggested we sing a song for the children and someone suggested “you are my sunshine” and we had at it which prompted the closest boy to immediately put his fingers in his ears. We then mingled together and took pictures and hugged and then a little girl decided to try and kick Sandy in the shins. Sandy responded by tickling the little girl in her stomach and then all the little girls wanted to be tickled keeping Sandy busy avoiding kicks and giving out tickles.
The school, which was set in a courtyard and not air-conditioned (The temperature was in the 90’s) was clean and well organized. The backpacks were hung up with care and of course Disney characters were well represented.
We left and toured the local market that ranged from fruit and vegetables to clothing and books and random other goods but was overpowered by the smell of fish. On a scale of 1 to 10 for cleanliness the market was below zero. We left quickly to go back to the bus and ran into our group of aggressive salespeople selling “Polo collar shirts – 3 for 5 American dollars, postcards for 1 american dollar, fans for one American dollar” and so forth. The same people would show up at every stop on our tour.
We then went to a typical Vietnamese home. The entrance leads to a somewhat large room that is divided into four parts. Two walls extend out about five feet from the back wall making three small rooms. The center room is a shrine for the ancestors of the family. The room on the right with a small bed and a TV on a stand is the bedroom of the wife and mother. The room on the left was where the husband/father slept but he has passed away so now that room is a shrine to him.
We saw water buffalo working the rice fields and workers hoeing the fields. Overall, it is not a very clean place in-land and away from the beach. It is a very meager living and very poor with little sign of progress.
Our second port led us to Ho Chi Ming city/Saigon. It’s about a two hour drive from the port to the city. The city has a population of six million. There are motor scooters everywhere and traffic is always at rush hour levels. Vietnam has a helmut law but doesn’t seem to have anything but a go where you want to go mentality and keep your head down. A motor scooter will hold one passenger or one and a baby, or two, or two and a baby or three adults or believe it or not four adults speeding along on one motor scooter. I also saw two guys on a motor scooter with the guy in the rear extending his leg out to a bicycle beside them and pushing the bike along the road. All along the road into the city are Buddhist shrines and restaurants and shops. Almost all opened on the front with no air conditioning. Trash and dirt and junk are everywhere. Sandy said it best when she described the conditions as “wretched”.
We saw a water puppet show in Saigon that was original and fun. We enjoyed a buffet lunch at a very nice air conditioned restaurant and were entertained by musicians and dancers performing songs. The rest of Saigon was disappointing to me. I probably carry a bit of baggage about Vietnam from the war but I would rank this area just behind the devastation of New Guinea.
On reflection I keep mentioning air conditioning not from my own comfort level as we are out in the heat on our tours but as a sign of progress for the country as a whole. There are wonderful, modern hotels and shops in the city proper but the rest of the countryside appears not to have progressed in decades. Unless you count the scooters!

China

Beijing excursion:
We docked in Shanghai the busiest and largest port in the world. Everywhere you looked there were ships. Hundreds and hundreds waiting to load or unload huge cargo containers that will end up on trucks everywhere in the world including our beltway! There is no sign of a slowing economy here. Someone asked how the cargo containers were controlled and disbursed as each is literally the size of the back of a semi-trailer truck. An engineer replied “they use the fish method at the dockyards – First in – still here”.
We boarded very modern buses for our trip to the airport. Shanghai has twenty million inhabitants and it is obvious. High rise apartments are everywhere. The density is unbelievable. The buildings themselves are multi colored and are highlighted by laundry hanging from just about every balcony. Each unit has a large pole on the balcony that folds down for laundry to hang on and the clothing is many colored so it looks like a kaleidoscope.
The airport was modern and comfortable. Our group (40 total people including one representative from the ship and two guides – broken up into two groups in Beijing known as group 1 and group 2” was “herded” through a special entrance for security and Sandy lost a few lotion make up containers to the People’s Republic.
I had converted some money to the Chinese Yuan from dollars so we ate delicious pizza and drank coke light (better tasting then at home – probably more sugar!) while we waited for our flight on China Eastern airlines. The flight was uneventful on an airbus 321, however, there were many more attendants on board than at home so the service was probably a bit better.
The Beijing airport is large, modern, clean and impressive. We divided into groups and drove into the city and as I mentioned before the architecture is magnificent.
It’s hard to digest all we saw in these three days but I’ll hit a few highlights as I am still developing how I really feel about China. The first night and first day I could imagine coming for a long, wonderful visit to Beijing. The hotel was five star the restaurants astounding and the people were welcoming and friendly. Our visit to the Great Wall was a memory to last a lifetime. There was a gift shop at the Bandalang entrance to the Great Wall that had a reputation of having the highest quality of Jade. Sandy found a beautiful necklace and pendant combination that is spectacular and one of the finest pieces in the store. Unfortunately they wanted a lot of money for it but fortunately my experience working with Sconnix broadcasting (make money on the buy – Randall T. Odeneal)and ABC/Disney (no way am I paying that) kicked in at just the right time – so I passed from store clerk to department head to store manager to the General Manager all the time staying firm on a very, very low price (I knew they were interested as they kept talking to me all the while coming down in price) and finally the deal was made! Everyone on group 2 thought it was wonderful and spent the rest of the time in Beijing, including a jade factory trying to find a necklace like it but to no avail. Back on board Sandy wore it to dinner and the next night two ladies at the table said they had dreamed of the necklace the night before and one coveted it! So that’s enough pressure of how great it is and Sandy is looking forward to wearing it at home.
Being from the DC area I am more than used to visiting heads of state, the presidential motorcades and security concerns but it’s an art form in China. While we were in Beijing the Peoples Unity Congress was in session and the motorcades were gargantuan. On the busy three lane 2nd ring road two of the three lanes were closed to traffic and every 50 feet there was a soldier and then a policeperson and then a soldier etc., for miles….When limousines would drive by with army and police vehicles in front and back they would be followed by buses loaded with soldiers with machine guns facing up in front of them and after five or six sightings it gets a bit unnerving. This is where Beijing unwinds for me as the military presence is everywhere. Definitely stifling and intimidating to me.
Our Peking Duck dinner was pretty good (each duck sliced 120 times for just the right parts) and the duck was crispy on the outside and tender inside. It takes a minimum of three days to prepare the duck for the feast. All the other meals were good served on a lazy susan with a big variety of dishes to choose from.
The square, the Forbidden City, the tombs of the emperors and the sacred way plus all the other sights and sounds are staying with me and to say that the Beijing trip caught my attention is an understatement.
Till next time….

Beijing

Here we are along the Sacred Way to a visit of the Changling Tomb (Ming Dynasty).

I just wanted to post a bit of our China visit before I go back to the torture that is the internet on Board the ship. I'll update our visit to China in the next couple of days.







Keep going......







A peek into "The Forbidden City"above.

Tian'anmen Square and the wall separating the "Forbidden City".

The Great Wall where Sandy and I climbed to a wonderful vantage point and were properly and thouroughly amazed. You almost want to pinch yourself that you are actually standing on the wall.

Keep going......

A small section of the lobby of the Peninsula hotel.

Armani, Burberry, Louis Vouitton, Tiffany & CO., and more much more are all located in the hotel. Marble and flowers and works of art are everywhere. It's gorgeous. So is Beijing! The architecture is magnificent and freestyle and not at all what I was expecting. This could be one of my favorite places. The people are very friendly and our tour guide is knowledgable and witty.

Till next time.....

Happiness is.....

I'm thrilled to tell you that we just checked into the Peninsula Hotel in Beijing, China and I have.........Wireless internet with speed. I've cleaned up the Korea postings and added pictures and will add more.

Above is the volcanoe from New Guinea

Nagasaki pictures

Korea

Pusan (Busan) Korea
With a population of 3.65 million Pusan is South Koreas’ second largest metropolis after Seoul.
Tokyo seized the area in the 19th century and tried to replace the Korean language with Japanese. These were austere times and when the Japanese were driven from the Korean peninsula after World War two there were no tears and still a bit of lingering animosity between the two nations.
There is tension between the north and south and as we are here there is talk of a missile test from the north and South Korea airlines has restricted their planes from any North Koran airspace.
However we took a tour back in time to an ancient Buddhist temple and tea ceremony. We drove by bus about an hour out to the countryside through heavily populated areas with lots of huge (40 story or more) apartment buildings side by side and very plain in appearance. There were many shops and stores packed side by side in very narrow streets with huge advertising signs everywhere.
When we arrived at the temple (actually many, many temples in a very large compound) we passed through very ornate and intricately and colorfully carved gates. We were greeted by a Buddhist monk and my first question to a dedicated follower of Buddha was: “Excuse me – where is the bathroom” – not exactly a search for enlightenment but at the time it was as close to a religious experience as I could get. The tour was peaceful and lovely and I took lots of pictures.
The tea ceremony was conducted by women in Korean kimonos and was quite church like. Green tea and rice cakes were served after lots of bowing. We were sitting on cushions on the floor in front of small tables and a monk was narrating the event. He ran into trouble with the work “cup” as he said “she puts the tea leaves in the , the, the………thing” and adds hot water”.
Twas a long bus ride back to the ship but an interesting day.

Nagasaki

Nagaski:
This is a beautiful city in the midst of rolling hills and the loveliest of harbors.
Unfortunately it is the second and thankfully the last city to experience an atomic bomb attack. Sandy and I toured the Peace Park, the Atom Bomb Museum and ground zero. All of it was very serious. Our guide told us that after the bomb the survivors were told that nothing would ever live there again but two short months later flowers and plants and trees started to rise from the ground giving hope to all. As near as we could tell there is no animosity whatever against the US but a quiet determination to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
It’s spring here and flowers and cherry blossom trees are starting to bloom. There are wonderful, solemn statues and memorials everywhere but I’ll take away three very pleasant memories.
At the peace park a gentleman came into view with a slightly limping tan Labrador retriever on a leash and just behind him a very pink baby stroller pushed by a woman wearing a medicinal mask over her face. Nothing too unusual until you noticed she was pushing the prettiest Persian white cat with a plaid sweater and pink blanket. A little out of place at first but then quite normal.
The second was a class of uniformed school kids, probably 14 to 16 on a tour of the Peace Park and when they saw us they came alive with the loveliest of smiles and all holding up the peace sign and laughing.
The third is when our group approached their group at the entrance to the museum I bowed to a few girls close by and gave my best good morning greeting of “Ohayo-gozaimasu” and they bowed back and replied “Ohayo-gozaimasu” and giggled and giggled and giggled. Very pleasant indeed.
Till next time..

Saipan

Saipan:
The capital and largest island of the United States Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana islands (CNMI) a chain of 15 tropical islands belonging to the Marianas archipelago and with a population of 63,000. The seas are the most spectacular I have ever seen with dark blues changing to light turquoise back to dark purple then to emerald green and every shade of green and blue imaginable in lines close or far capped by the whitest of white cap waves. Truly a tropical paradise.
Saipan is a very popular tourist destination and has a shopping center that would rival Rodeo drive, Chevy Chase or 5th Avenue. While we were there not a lot of shopping was going on and the effects of the slowing world economy are apparent almost everywhere. There is much talking by the guides of all the changes in lifestyle and employment. We toured the beaches the Marines hit back in World War II and saw rusting tanks still in the water. There is a beautiful reef that encompasses much of the island and unfortunately not taken into account for the invasion. Troop landing ships could not get over the reefs so the Marines jumped into the water with heavy back packs plus weapons, some as far out as two miles, and many drowned and never hit the beach. They were under heavy fire all the way. The Japanese had made a stronghold that they thought impenetrable and the evidences is still all over the island with caves that were used a prisons, fortifications and shell markings on the limestone hills from the Navy ships. There are two spectacular cliffs one leading to the ocean and one to land called Suicide and Banzai. The Japanese settlers jumped from these cliffs to perish when the Americans landed for they were brainwashed that the US would do terrible things to them and their children. A Spanish Marine from LA who had been around some Japanese before the interment cried out in Japanese to stop the jumping and he is credited with the saving of some lives.
We toured the war memorial and my age was showing as the flags were of the US, the Marine Corps, Army, Navy and Coast Guard as the air force hadn’t been founded. So many years ago but it still seemed natural.
Today the island is beautiful and lush with still undeveloped areas of the island covered with sword grass, meadows and dense, dry forest jungle known as Tangan-Tangan. Coconuts, papayas and Thai hot peppers (known locally as “Donnie Sali” or “Boonie Peppers” - are among the fruits that grow wild. Mango, tara root and bananas are a few of the many foods cultivated by local families and farmers. Sportfishing is excellent offshore with numerous small boats catching tuna, wahoo, billfish and many other species.

Till next time

Pictures Papua

Rabaul, Papua New Guinea
Imagine living in a tropical paradise with lush resorts, golf courses galore, a yacht club and even an international airport. This is the way the islanders of New Britain in the township of Papua lived until September 19, 1994. Then two volcanoes erupted simultaneously and destroyed the town and surroundings. People were evacuated by boat and trucks but returned several months later to burned homes and ash six or eight or ten or more feet deep. Everything and I mean everything had been destroyed but this had been their home and they began to rebuild on top of the ash. Fifteen years later they still live in, on and above black shifting ash. In wind the ashes blow like a sandstorm and the roads (none paved) shift and disappear based on use and weather. They literally have men with shovels every half mile or so for stuck vehicles or eroding ash and we heard the cry “spade, spade” several times on our tour as the workers rushed to dig us out or fill in the road. Here’s the hard part – one of the volcanoes (Turvurvur) is still erupting today spreading ash and smoke throughout the area. We got close to Turvurvur and saw the billowing smoke and ash but we could also hear a nasty rumble and growl coming from the volcano. Of course this was a bit alarming and scary. Nothing grows here but still the people stay. It’s their land and what they were used to but as Sandy pointed out no one under 15 has ever seen a blade of grass in their village. These are very poor people. The children laughed and smiled and the adults seemed worn down and the men’s choir was wonderful to hear but the long term consequences can’t be good. The government and ours, Great Britain, Australia and others have sent aid and there has been talk or relocation for the residents but still nothing has happened. The capital and government center was in Rabaul but since the eruption was moved to Kokopo about 12 miles away.
Over the years the island was the headquarters of the Germans in World War I then part of the British Commonwealth as part of Australia and then captured by the Japanese in World War II and finally liberated and became its own nation.
This port will stay with me a long, long time.

Still behind

Hi: We are on the way to Nagasaki, Japan and I need to write about Papau, New Guinea and Saipan in the next day or two.
In the meantime: what do Scots do on real cold nights? The answer is they huddle together around a candle. What do Scots do or really, really cold nights? They light the candle!

Aah, British humor at the halfway point.

Till next time

Pictures

Sydney and the Great Barrier Reef


Sydney is one of the most beautiful cities I have ever seen. Sailing into the harbor you are surrounded by small islands and peninsulas jutting into the bay with lovely homes perched on the hillsides. We docked right across the way from the Sydney Opera House and its incredible architecture that reflects an expanding world. An interesting aside is that the architect that won the competition to design the Opera House only sketched his idea and it became the engineer’s responsibility to design the structure so that it would stand! The budget was 7 million dollars and it came in at 102 million. The design and construction was approximately the same time as the Kennedy Center was being built. Sandy and I toured the concert hall and opera stage and were very impressed by the acoustics and design of the theatres. Although the Sydney Opera House is world renown it can’t attract large scale productions as the stages are too small for the sets. Still magnificent though.
We toured the city of 4 million people and each neighborhood was distinctive and for the most part charming. Sydney is definitely a city we would love to visit again and spend more time. We traveled out to Bondi beach one of 38 beaches that are within Sydney’s limits and it was like turning the clock back 50 years. A large promenade in the middle of a crescent shaped white sandy beach had restaurants, dressing rooms, snack bars and souvenirs. Across from the promenade and across 4 to 5 lanes of road were grand hotels, restaurants and shops, shops, shops.
Sydney is one of two ports that we overnight and have the next day for touring. The first time we slept without the rocking of the boat since New York. Being right in the middle of the bustling harbor was fascinating. Ferries coming and going carrying workers and school children and of course tourists all day and into the night. Sandy and I were joined by Ivy and Harry, tablemates, as we took the ferry over to the zoo to find the famous orangutan that our lovely 93 year old new friend Mary Jones kept telling us about. We saw more kangaroos, koalas, elephants, giraffes and the place where the orangutan lived but alas – no orangutan. It was still quite worth it as the zoo was wonderful and we met a few very interesting and gracious people. One was a woman with a camera taking pictures when she heard the four of us talking and asked if we were Americans. We said yes from Washington, D.C. and she said she was from Washington State. She then asked me for a hug and started crying. Of course, I gave her a hug as she told her story of having just arrived in Sydney to meet her daughter who was coming in on another cruise ship in a few days time. Her husband of thirty some years died just two months ago and she was still devastated. She had flown to Australia and had a panic attack on the plane and all in all she needed a bit of comfort and sympathy which we all gladly gave to her. After 5 or 10 minutes of talking and still a bit of hugging all five of us parted as dear, dear friends although we were just strangers in a foreign land.
I’m not doing justice to Sydney so I’ll just repeat: it is one of the most beautiful cities in the world!
We set sail and moved up the coast to Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef. Great indeed – it is more than 1,200 miles long and hundreds of miles wide. Australia conserves the reef by only allowing fishing or touring at certain places that change constantly to allow the reefs to restore naturally. We took a catamaran directly from the ship to a floating platform an hour and a half away. There we snorkeled and had lunch. There was a submersible ship to allow viewing for those not wanting to snorkel and a platform with a helicopter for tours of the reef from the air. The weather didn’t quite cooperate as it was an overcast day and we didn’t get the spectacular colors of the fish and the reefs that are usually available. It did brighten up enough that when I went snorkeling after lunch the blues and violets and reds and greens and browns and grays were so much more pronounced than they had been in the morning. Lots of fish and yes I did keep my mask on my face.

Next Rabaul, Papua New Guinea….

Australia:
Well, we are in love with this country/continent. After the passage from New Zealand to Hobart, Tasmania the weather cleared and revealed one of the most beautiful spots we have ever seen. The history of Hobart began a bit rough as a prison colony founded in 1803. There were about 178 prisoners at first with 25 officers to guard them and the some officers had brought their wives and a few children plus some government officials. The prisoners were sent from England, Scotland and Ireland. The labor
was hard and many bridges and roads built by these prisoners still stand today. The average prison term was seven years and then released prisoners became tradesmen, laborers and domestic help for the wealthiest settlers. Now, 200 years later it is quite a badge of distinction to trace one’s family back to the prisoners. As a matter of fact, one comedian on board when asked by the Australian immigration authorities if he had a criminal record replied “Do ye still need one to get in?”
Hobart is not only the nation’s southernmost major city it is also the smallest with fewer than 200,000 “Tassies” living here. The ships approach by a series of islands and peninsulas jutting into the bay and the mountains stretching to the sky is spectacular.

We toured by bus the city and then drove through the countryside to the tiny community of Richmond. Beautiful Georgian buildings built of Sandstone are a reminder of the days when Tasmania was a convict detention center and military post as indeed was all of Tasmania. Australia’s oldest jail is in the center of town and at town’s edge there is the oldest bridge in the country that spans the Coal river and is still in continuous use today. All built by prisoners! Speaking of coal, Tasmania is almost 90% energy sufficient by hydro-electric and wind power. They are way ahead of us in energy conservation as is the rest of Australia and they are quite proud of it.
Finally we visited Bonorong Wildlife Park to see wombats, koalas, kangeroos everywhere and the infamous “Tasmanian Devil”. The devil is extremely endangered with a recent type of facial growth illness that is spreadable within the species and results in death. Australia is working very hard against time for a cure but I didn’t detect mush optimism but let’s hope..


Till next time and our Sydney adventures..