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Asia Cruise and Land Trip:
| September 24, 2005:
Our trip begins ...
A group of us is off on a new adventure ...
A cruise from Seattle to Japan, via Alaska, Russia and Korea. Yesterday we
boarded the Diamond Princess in Seattle. At 5 PM after the fire drill we
set sail under clear skies and mild weather. The skyline of this big city
was the back drop.
I don't know how to introduce our group? ? ? It's a mixture of school
friends, travel friends, relatives and church friends. It wasn't until last
night at dinner that we all met as a group as we sat at two nearby tables.
Here we are:
TomO, Carl and Ken (good friends and travel mates)
Joel and Elaine (brother)
Levonne and Rick (cousin)
Barbara and Blanche (twins, high school class mates)
Karen and Paula (high school class mate)
Pat and Rod (cousin)
Helen and Chuck (friends)
Tom and Roger (me and my cousin)
Click on the thumbnail to see us leaving
Seattle:
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| September 25, 2005: At Sea
Today is an "at sea" day. Tomorrow we arrive in Ketchikan at 7:00AM. TomO,
Carl, Ken and I are taking a sea plane excursion. I'll tell you about it if
I survive!
Our first stop was Ketchikan, Alaska. The
weather was mild and partly sunny. TomO, Ken, Carl and I booked a float
plane ride. We assembled on the pier and took a short bus ride to Taquan
Air where our plane was waiting. The plane is called a Beaver and was built
by DeHavilland. It seats 8 passengers plus the pilot. I sat in the front
with the pilot and 4 people sat behind us.
We took off in a northerly direction and could see the downtown area of
Ketchikan off to our right. Then the plane turned left and circled back,
flying at about 2,000 feet over forested terrain. We saw many lakes as we
flew beside tall mountains and over big lakes. After about 40 minutes, the
pilot descended and we landed on a long secluded lake. We opened the doors
and stepped out on the plane's floats where we took pictures.
This was a great excursions and clearly a highlight of the trip so far.
Click on these thumbnails to see pictures of our seaplane ride:
and
After we returned to Ketchikan, we toured the old town, shops and dock
area. There are some old building on Creek Street ... built on piers over
the water. We walked along and watched salmon jumping. Almost all of the
stores are offering 50% off. I bought a Russian cold weather military hat
in preparation for the glacier excursion later on!
This is a thumbnail of some shots of Ketchikan
and Juneau
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September 28, 2005:
The Alaskan Glaciers
We don't know how long we will have Internet, but supposedly we lose it for
a few days before reaching Asia. We left Glacier Bay last evening and hit
some rough weather. The main stage show had to be postponed since it was
too hazardous for the dancers. We managed to sleep most of the night after
I threw some dirty clothes in front of the closet to keep the door from
banging open and shut. It has calmed down a bit this morning and sun is
threatening. We're hoping to be able to walk the promenade deck this
afternoon.
This morning we stopped by Rick and Levonne's table on the way out of
breakfast and the people next to them were named Grace. He had gone to
Bearcreek School (near our old home place) and graduated from Molalla in
1945. Small world. I had heard their name last nite at dinner so I think
someone else had seen them, too.
Barbara and Blanche are fun to be with. Blanche usually brings some object
to dinner and has everyone, waiters included, try to guess what it is. The
other nite it was a device to stretch the fingers of a lady's leather
glove. I think someone was able to guess it, Karen perhaps.
We have heard from our Japanese exchange-teacher friend Tetsuye. His wife
will be our tour guide to Kyoto to visit the palace. She doesn't speak
English, but can help us find our way, I'm sure.
Click on these thumbnails to see some
pictures of "life at sea"
and
We're working on pictures, but email has been slow. Yesterday we toured
Glacier Bay and the view was spectacular from our balcony window. Those on
the other side came over for pictures and then as the ship turned we could
go over to their rooms. We could look down and see Tom and entourage. They
had umbrellas since they didn't have a roof like those of us in the cheap
seats do. It was 39 degrees. It's in the 50's now. As Elaine and I were
doing our walking on the deck, we saw some sort of whales on both sides of
the ship. While we were in the bay, a national park, rangers boarded the
ship and gave commentary. We saw the little boat come along side and pick
them up. Later they let the Alaskan pilot off as we headed out to sea.
We have reached as far north as we will go and will straighten out as we go
on toward Russia. We will reach there on Tuesday after having lost Monday
to the date line.
I found that I had phone service for a short period yesterday and called
cousin Burt. It only lasted for a minute or so before I lost service.
Adios for now. Lots of nothing to do this morning, maybe vegetable carving.
Here are some pictures of the glaciers we saw:
and
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October 3, 2005:
Russia
We are now sighting land, the Kamchetka Peninsula, after five restful days
at sea. There are beautiful mountains and a rugged coastline. This area
was a Soviet era submarine base and off limits to anyone for many years. We
will land at the largest city of Patropavlovsk, 200,000, the second largest
city in the world with no outside access by road. There are hundreds of
volcanoes and hotsprings and this is beginning to be a popular tourist area
particularly for the Japanese.
All these days at sea have been very restful and slow-paced with many
activities. There are classes in bridge and computer use (for a fee),
lectures on var ious topics, particularly Russian History, and
crafts--making crepe-paper flowers, folding napkins, and needlepoint purses,
etc. Some of us like all the time to read. There are movies on TV at all
times and occasionally in the theater. At night there are shows with the
musicians and dancers, comics, magicians and juggles. There is always music
in the bar areas, piano players, violin-accordian, and various groups with
different eras of songs.
We are having limited success with the computer lab. There seems to be some
problem with the software causing long waits for downloads and much
re-booting of machines. But, if there's nothing else to do, the wait isn't
too onerous. The excuse is always that we are out of satellite signal, but
that doesn't particularly hold water since the lap-top wireless connection
seems to be good--expensive, too.
We have tried to be good and exercise each day. There is a gym on the upper
deck, but we have been walking the promenade deck, bundled up. It's been a
constant 49 degrees. I bought a knit cap which works well. Four and 1/2
times around is about the same time as we walk at home. The ship is 980
feet long. To go around the bow, you walk up a flight of stairs. This
morning the wind was so intense that we thought we would be blown away.
Sometimes the bow is closed due to weather.
We had two storms on the crossing, the second last evening. Some got sick,
but other take pills and wear acupressure wrist bands and get along ok.
Yesterday it rained sideways, our side, and water was coming through the
sliding door. We would have the door open more, but it sounds like a
freight train when the wind is blowing. The only problem is that the
medication makes you drowsy, but oblivious as you bounce from side to side
of the corridor. The waiters are quite adept at keeping the trays aright at
all times. No one has had anything spilled on them.
We have been going to the same two tables each night for dinner, with our
own two waters, Ferdinand and Jose from The Philippines and Mexico. They
are great at learning our likes and dislikes and joining in with all the
fun. We have a hard time getting finished in time to get a seat for the
first show. The English like the fixed-seating in the one dining room that
does that, and they like to dress more for dinner we understand.
From: Joel, Elaine, Levonne, Rick, Paula, Karen, TomO, TomD, Roger, Carl,
Ken, Pat, Rod, Helen, Chuck, Barbara and Blanche
Here a picture of us at our tables in the Pacific Moon
dining room:
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October 4,
2005 Petropavlosk, Russia
Rough seas and slower speeds resulted in a late arrival to Petropalosk,
Russia, we waited a long time to get off for our tours. (Petropavlovsk is
named for St. Peter and St. Paul). Instead of boarding tenders to take us
ashore, the Captain made an announcement saying he'd decided to not allow
any disembarkation. An exception was for an ill passenger who would be
flying to Moscow then Vancouver BC. The excuse: we were going to go into
the dock by tender and the seas were too high and going to get worse.
Actually, they didn't seem too bad to us; it was a beautiful day and the sea
was getting smoother. Our conclusion: There wasn't enough time to get
people off and back on before we were due to sail.
We had a beautiful view of the city with volcanoes in the background
including what looked like a new, onion-domed church with fresh
gilt. Some of the houses looked very poor, but many had been
refurbished with bright red and blue roofs, also many apartment
blocks. The streets were terraced along the hillside and we
could see lots of car and buses. We could see the "Welcome
Diamond Princess" sign and buses ready to take us on tours.
Since this was one of the few cruise ships to stop here, we felt bad
that we had to turn around without getting off. The comedian
we had last night thought we should just lie and say we had been
there, buy some stacking dolls in the gift shop aboard ship and who
would know the difference? I choose to say that I have visited
Russia since we were in the harbor and our passports did get
stamped.
Russians had boarded early on and had been selling rubles. We then heard
announcements to go back and exchange your new rubles back into dollars.
When the anchor was raise it caught on a fishing net (similar to the recent
snagging of a Russian submarine). A Russian boat was sent to the anchor
and we could see a huge bolt cutter on the deck. We heard later on that if
they hadn't been successful, we'd have sailed into the open ocean and sent
Princess boats out to cut us loose.
Here are some pictures of Petropavlosk, Russia:
and
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Oct 7, 2005 - Muroran
(Sapporo) Japan
Our first port in Japan is Muroran. This is the port city to Sapporo on the
northern island of Hokaido. Before the 1870's this area was inhabited by the
Ainu native people. Then the Japanese government decided to develop this
area. Teams of engineers (which included American technicians) designed the
city. I is a familiar grid system with organized numbering system.
A bunch in our group signed up for a bus trip into Sapporo (about 1-1/2
hours each way). We were dropped off near the TV tower on the Odori Park
blocks. From there we walked northerly direction to the Sapporo Railway
Station. Here is a vast underground shopped center and large department
store. The weather was warm but overcast.
As it was about lunch time, we headed to the "food court", a collection of
many restaurants. All of the establishments had rubber facsimiles of the
dishes available along with the prices. We split and Roger, Ken, TomO, Carl
and I went to a noodle restaurant. A man was rolling out noodle dough. When
it was thin enough he folded it up and cut it into narrow strips.
Several of us had plain noodles. What we didn't expect was for them to be
chilled! And I think because of that, they didn't taste as they looked in
the picture on the menu.
We noticed that gas is 124Y per liter which we calculated to be $4 per
gallon.
This is volcano country. The bay near Muroran is ringed by them and called
Volcano Bay. The guide told us about a farmer who noticed that his corn
field was bulging and steam was venting. He carefully recorded the changes.
Today that volcano is 1500 feet tall.
Here are some "postcards" of Sapporo:
and
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October 9, 2005 - Pusan,
South Korea
After another day crossing the Sea of Japan, we awoke as we sailing into
Pusan. It is the second largest city, 3.7 million, and largest port. Some of
us took the shuttle into the downtown area and others went on a variety of
tours. Once downtown, we waited for the shops to open and spent time in a
section with hundreds of shops selling everything. Tom and Joel stepped into
a MacDonald's for coffee in order to get a tray liner for Joel's friend who
collects them. We hadn't exchanged any money, but most places were happy to
take dollars. It was Sunday, but that didn't seem to make much difference.
Prices were good though shopping is hampered by a lack of room in the
suitcases.
We met up with Tom O, Carl and Ken on their return from a tour to a Buddhist
temple just in time to go to the fish market. That was a highlight of the
day with the tanks of eels, crabs, flounder and other unnamed species. There
were piles of various kinds of dried fish as well.
Since Sunday was Levonne's birthday, she awakened with balloons at the door,
and we celebrated at dinner. The waiters came and sang and presented a cake.
It will soon be Helen and Chuck's 45th wedding anniversary, so a second cake
came out and another round of singing.
Joel, Elaine, TomD, Roger, Levonne, Rick, Pat, Rod, TomO, Carl, Ken, Paula,
Karen, Helen, Chuck. Barbara and Blanche.
Here are some pictures of Pusan, South Korea
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October 10, 2005 -
Nagasaki, Japan
Hello Friends,
Please let me know if you want your name removed for this e-mail list.)
Overnight from Pusan took us further south to the City of Nagasaki (pop.
450,000) on the island of Kyushu. We sailed in under a beautiful new bridge
which will soon be ready to open. This is the home of the Mitsubishi ship
building factory where the Diamond Princess was built in 2004. This was the
first time this ship has returned and the city was ready with a warm
welcome. There was a troupe of dancers as well as a large welcoming
committee. Later in the day a troop of drummers came aboard for a production
preceded by a gift exchange between the captain and officials from the city.
On the dock a large high school band played the "Stars and Stripes Forever"
as we sailed away. Lots of people had come down to see us off.
Most of us got out to the Peace Park and the Atomic Bomb Museum located near
the hypocenter of the Atom Bomb blast in 1945. It was a very moving
experience, In the Park are many sculptures donated by various cities and
countries.
The Gano's and Daniels' took the trolley back to near the ship and went up
two sets of elevators to the top of Glover Garden which was the home of
Scotsman, Thomas Blake Glover and built in the 1860's at the time foreigners
were first let into Japan. It is the oldest western style building in Japan.
Madame Butterfly is thought to have been modeled after Tsuru Glover and
there is a statue of Puccini in the Garden. Although Japan was closed to the
West until that time, Nagasaki was an exception. There is a large Christian
community here with a number of churches. It would be great to have more
time in this beautiful city amongst numerous hills and mountains. Some
compare it to San Francisco.
After another day at sea, we will be in Osaka for disembarkation. Today we
must cram everything in our suitcases and have them out in the hall before
we go to dinner. We will get them back tomorrow and then head either to the
airport or the hotel.
Joel, Elaine, TomD, Roger, Levonne, Rick, Pat, Rod, TomO, Carl, Ken, Paula,
Karen, Helen, Chuck. Barbara and Blanche.
Here are some pictures of Nagasaki, Japan:
and
and
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This is a picture taken on our last formal night:
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October 12, 2005 -
Osaka, Japan (Please let me know if you want your name taken off of this
e-mailing list!)
On our first full day in Osaka, we were met by Keiko, the wife of
Tetsue. Tetsue
is a high school teacher who lives in Kobe and was an exchange
teacher to the United
States in 1993. He stayed for several weeks with Joel and
Elaine.
Keiko took us by train to Kyoto. The day was sunny and warm.
We toured a temple
and shrine before ending up at the Imperial Palace in Kyoto.
First we saw the Golden Pavilion (Rokuon-Ji Temple), built in the
1220's. We walked
into a serene, park-like area ending up beside a lake. In the
near distance was
the beautiful, three story gilt structure, topped by a Chinese
phoenix. Everyone
stopped at the shore of Mirror pond to snap pictures. We
continue walking around
the grounds before continuing on to the next temple.
We did a lot of walking today. Next to a stone works (lanterns
and small pagoda
shapes), we entered a shrine called the Ryoan-Ji Temple with its Zen
garden. At
the top of the steps, we took off our shoes and strolled to an area
with a "garden"
of raked gravel and flat stones. It made me very agitated and
I wanted to smooth
over those rake marks and dig holes and plant chrysanthemums!
We were late and just had time to walk through "forest" ... a grove
of
redwood planted in a carpet of green moss.
Our main destination was the Imperial Palace. Prior to
leaving the US, Rod had registered us all to a 2:00 PM tour of
this royal property. Kyoto was the capital of Japan starting
in 794 when it was moved from Nara. It remained the capital
until it was moved to Tokyo in 1869. The palace sturctures
have burned a number of times. The present structure was
rebuilt in 1854.
We joined about 80 other people and were led on 60 minute tour
through the grid-like areas, where we saw a water feature (pond,
bridge, koi, rock "beach"), pavilions, thrones, gates, walls,
gardens, etc. The buildings are a pleasant combination of many
traditional Japanese architectural styles.
Kyoto was not considered a military threat in World War II and was
not bombed.
You can see a picture
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October 13, 2005 -
Kyoto, Japan
On our first full day in Osaka, we were met by Keiko, the wife of
Tetsuya. Tetsuya
is a high school teacher who lives in Kobe and was an exchange
teacher to the United
States in 1993. He stayed for several weeks with Joel and
Elaine.
Keiko took us by train to Kyoto. The day was sunny and warm.
We toured a temple
and shrine before ending up at the Imperial Palace in Kyoto.
First we saw the Golden Pavilion (Rokuon-Ji Temple), built in the
1220's. We walked
into a serene, park-like area ending up beside a lake. In the
near distance was
the beautiful, three story gilt structure, topped by a Chinese
phoenix. Everyone
stopped at the shore of Mirror pond to snap pictures. We
continue walking around
the grounds before continuing on to the next temple.
We did a lot of walking today. Next to a stone works (lanterns
and small pagoda
shapes), we entered a shrine called the Ryoan-Ji Temple with its Zen
garden. At
the top of the steps, we took off our shoes and strolled to an area
with a "garden"
of raked gravel and flat stones. It made me very agitated and
I wanted to smooth
over those rake marks and dig holes and plant chrysanthemums!
We were late and just had time to walk through "forest" ... a grove
of redwood planted in a carpet of green moss.
Our main destination was the Imperial Palace. Prior to leaving
the US, Rod had
registered us all to a 2:00 PM tour of this royal property.
Kyoto was the capital
of Japan starting in 794 when it was moved from Nara. It
remained the capital until
it was moved to Tokyo in 1869. The palace sturctures have
burned a number of times.
The present structure was rebuilt in 1854.
We joined about 80 other people and were led on 60 minute tour
through the grid-like
areas, where we saw a water feature (pond, bridge, koi, rock
"beach"),
pavilions, thrones, gates, walls, gardens, etc. The buildings
are a pleasant combination
of many traditional Japanese architectural styles.
Kyoto was not considered a military threat in World War II and was
not bombed.
You can see pictures at:
and
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October 14, 2005 -
Nara, Japan Tetsuya had the day off as his students were taking tests!
The was fortunate for
us because he was able to take us to the city of Nara. We are
very lucky to have
Tetsuya and his wife Keiko guiding us around Osaka, Kyoto,
Nara and later on Kobe!
This city if noted for its temples and "Bambi". We took the
train then
a city bus and even before we arrived at our temple destination, we
saw deer walking
through the city parks. We started out at a Shinto temple.
When we got there,
a service was in progress and we watched for a while. There
was some music from a pan flute looking instrument and chanting/singing.The priest wore
a black, net
helmet with a stiff tail. Other officials less elaborate head
wear. Two women
in white kimonos synchronized their movements including the ringing
of bells.
The next temple (Todaiji) was Buddhist and was bjuilt in 700's.
It is home of the
Vaiocana Buddha "shines like the sun". The enormous wooden
structure
has burned several times.
Although this current temple is 1/3
the size of the original
one, we were told it's the largest wooden structure in the world.
The enormous
bronze and gilt Buddha statue was inside. In the back was a
large wooden column
with a hole near the bottom. The diameter was the size of the
Buddha's nostril
and if you could climb through it, you would have good luck.
There was a group
of school children (10 years old) doing that!
Tonight, Ken packed his bags and took off for the airport for his
return to San
Francisco.
You can see some pictures at:
and
and
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| October 15, 2005 -
Kobe, Japan On our last full day in the Osaka area, we took the train to the
Kobe station. where
we were met by Tetsuya. He took us by bus to where he and his
wife Keiko are building
a new home. The house was draped in grey tarps. The
framing and outside (stucco)
are complete and work was progressing on putting wall-board on the
interior walls.
It is 2 story with an attic (storage) and Tetsuya thought it would
be finished in
2 months.
An unusual feature in the kitchen were wall cabinets where you open
the door and
the interior storage racks lower to a convenient level. Keiko
served cold tea and
coffee to us before we continued on to downtown Kobe.
Tetsuya took us to the City Hall building which was 20 or 30 stories
tall. We took
the elevator to the top where there were 2 view restaurants and we
had lunch.
Afterwards, we went to the main train station. TomD spun off
to do Internet things
and the rest got on another train to go over the mountains to a hot
springs spa
for som communal bathing. Now days, the men bathe separately
from the women. Everyone
came out feeling 20 years younger!
You can see some pictures of Kobe at:
and
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October 16, 2005 -
Mt. Koya (Koyasan), Japan Most of our group has now returned to the West Coast, USA. Ken
left after 2 days
and Joel, Elaine, Rick, Levonne, Roger, Pat and Rod left on Sunday
after 4 days.
Now we are three travellers: TomO, TomD and Carl!
As we left our "security blanket" Tetsuya, and the suburbs of Osaka,
our
train climbed south steadily into the mountains. Two trains,
an almost vertical
cog railway, and a bus brought us to Koyasan, as the Japanese
affectionately call
this Shingon Buddhist enclave of more than 115 temples, which was
founded in 816
CE.
Koyasan is a beautiful and peaceful retreat 3,000 feet above the mad
beehive of
Osaka. Vegetarian head-shaved monks chanting in the temple at
the crack of dawn,
the scent of incense, a full moon, mist swirling about the towering
cypress trees,
exquisite Japanese gardens and temples ... all part of the
atmosphere here.
About 50 of the temples have Japanese ryokan (country inn) style
accommodations
for guests. Part of the fun was encountering the complicated
rituals of the various
kinds of slippers --- some for the tatami-matted bedrooms, some for
the toilets,
etc. the ritual of the Japanese hot tub baths, our, komono-clad,
cross-legged vegetarian
meals on the floor of our room, the futton laid out on the tatamis
for our beds.
We met a lively, young Spanish artist named Paco on the train.
And we spent time
with him exploring and taking lots of pictures of the temples and
gardens.
Tomorrow we go off this quiet mountain top to the madding masses of
Tokyo.
You can see some pictures at:
and
We ran into a nice, young Spanish artist named Paco when we were taking the trains to Mt. Koya. We chatted a lot and then went our separate ways when we got to our destination. He was in Osaka on a grant and knew someJapanese and helped us get around.
The next day we ran into him again as we were hiking around visiting the Temples in this sacred area. When wewent insode of a huge, bright orange temple, he noticed the quality of the light that came in through the shogi screens. We took turns taking pictures of each other and pictures on a timer, and the attached postcard shows you
the results.
Okay, this is very vain, but it was fun!
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October 18, 2005 -
Tokyo, Japan Okay, this is going to another long e-mail as I try to catch up!
You may want tostart looking for the delete button on your computer. TomO,
Carl and I left ourneat Shinjuku hotel on Oct 25th. They have gone on to Sri
Lanka and Southern India
to continue their trip. I am now in Korea, visiting a friend
named Louis. This
e-mail will tell you a little about our week in Tokyo.
(Please let me know if you want your name taken off of the e-mailing
list!)
On Oct 16th, we took the Shinkansen (bullet train) from Shin-Osaka
station (Shin
= new, Shinkansen = "new trunk line") and arrived at Tokyo
Station
about 2.5 hours later. We discovered that we were on a "Nozomi"
train
and our passes were NO good. However, since it was their
mistake, they let us finish
our trip! We're not sure what a Nozomi is, but it's a little
faster than a speeding
bullet.
We looked up a friend named Aurelio. I'd met him in Honolulu
in January and again
in Southern California in August. He's originally from Texas
and San Diego and
has now lived in Tokyo for 13 years. He teaches English to
private students. Throughoutour stay, he was a great help in getting around and finding the
sights to see.
* * * Roppongi * * *
Our first Tokyo hotel was in the Roppongi district. There are
a lot of foreigners
here because many embassies and consulates are here. The hotel
was nice and staff
friendly. We each had a very small, modern room there.
We visited the Tokyo Edo Historical Museum. A volunteer
guide took us around the
exhibits of what Japan looked like in the 1600's. The guide
had just returned from
a trip to Portland where she had attended college years ago
(Cascade? or Concordia?
or something like that.) On of the exhibits was a set of
wooden buckets, weighted
as to be full of night soil. You could lift them and see what
it would have been
like.
We found an Internet cafe within one block. The three of us
wanted to go in and
only use PC but that wasn't allowed. We ended up each using
one. A day or so later
I returned with my laptop and was able to connect to their network
and download
a week's worth of e-mail.
One night we went to the Ginza district. It was a little like
Roppongi ... affluent,
but with more westerners, Mercedes and BMW's. There was a lot
of energy ... human
and all of the neon lighting. Like Time Square, there were
large screen TVs with
ads on them.
* * * Fish Market * * *
A trip to the Tokyo Fish Market is highly rated in the tour books.
Aurelio said
he thought the fish market was not allowing tourists to come through
anymore. However,
we were able to go into the huge, huge warehouse - wholesale floor.
We could see
why it might be dangerous because the activity is frenetic with
carts, motorized
carriers, buyers, sellers, fish cutters and so on. At one
point I saw a worker
using a machete to precisely slice through an 8 foot tuna.
Here is a little movie
I made at the fish market. It is about 800 Kilobytes and I
think it should play
in your browser (it does on mine):
http://www.tomdaniels.com/2005AsiaCruise/FishMarket.mov
We split up after the fish market and Carl went to see the Meiji
Shrine and Old
Tokyo. TomO and I headed out for Electric City (Akihabara).
TomO got his watch
band fixed ($2.00) and we started looking at the offerings.
For blocks and blocks,
the streets are lined with stores selling computers, software,
cameras, cell phones,
refrigerators, and so on. I saw my next laptop computer!
LIGHTWEIGHT and with
a LONG BATTERY LIFE.
* * * Shinjuku * * *
After three days we left our hotel in Roppongi and moved over to
Shinjuku. We had
booked a very nice hotel on the Internet but were unable to change
the dates whenwe decided to arrive in Tokyo earlier. It was the Southern
Century Tower Hotel,
immediately south of the train station. We were told that the
hotel was used in
the movie "Lost in Translation". The lobby was on the 20th
floor and
our room was on the 25th with beautiful views of the city.
We went out for dinner with Aurelio's friends Dominic and Richard
Daniels. (They
are each English men who have married Japanese women. Dominic
writes software for
teaching English as a second language and Richard teaches English.
I put in Richard's
last name because it's the same as mine. His brother is James,
the same as my brother's!!
Maybe they belong to our family who stayed in England several
centuries ago? ? ?
On night we went to a Karaoke Box. This is a karaoke place
when your "rent"
a small room. Ours had a table, sofa and room for 5 or 6
people. They charge for
each person for each hour and you can drink as much as you want
while you are there.
I drank Calpis (pronounced Cow Piss) while the others drank beer and
more exotic
drinks. We had an foreigner's book (English) book of song
lists by title and artist.
It was fun.
A special treat was a Butoh dance performace at a small theater not
too far away.
Butoh Dance is a Japanese avant-garde dance originated by
HIJIKATA,Tatsumi in 1950s.
The program was called Kokuge and there were 2 dancers and one
musician! The dance
seemed primal, physical and self-abusive at times (hitting and
scratching their
bodies, falling on the floor, etc.). The musician was
fascinating. He played a
bass violin (bass fiddle). For some movements, he lay it on
the floor and used
2 bows on it. He ran the bow across the strings above and
below the bridge. One
time he played a flute as he was playing the violin. Very
bizarre and fascinating!
(You can see more information on Butoh at
http://www.ne.jp/asahi/butoh/itto/butoh-e.htm
We took 3 day trips out from Tokyo: to Kamakura, Hakone
and Nikko.
* * * Kamakura* * *
In an effort to get our money's worth out of our Japan Rail
Passes, we took thebullet train south, past Yokahama to Kamakura. At the station
we got a tourist
map and directions to several Buddhist temples. The first (Kotokuin
Temple) is
the site of a huge, bronze statue. (The second largest Buddha
next to the one we
saw in Nara). At one time, this Buddha was in a temple
building but, at the end
of the 1400s, a huge tsunami came along and washed everything away
except the Buddha.
It is said the face has an unusually serene countenance.
For a
few additional yen,
we went inside of the statue to inspect the welds. We also
bought bundles of incenseThere was a little flame machine near the selling area to light it.
Once they were
lit we walked to a large incense burner and placed them inside.
The temples sell all kinds of good luck charms and Carl bought
enough to cover all
of the bases (health, luck, good grades in school, longevity and
automobile safety.)
It was a little rainy and colorful umbrella were open to add to the
scene.
The other temple was the Hasedera Temple complex. We walked
past a koi filled pond
and entered a cave to see the Buddha carvings and get
claustrophobia.
Further up
the hill was a set of temples. In one was a huge wheel shaped
"thing"
lying it's side. If you took a handle and pushed it around one
revolution, you
will gain the knowledge of the library it represents. I don't
know about that.
I couldn't even remember the name of the temple once I left it.
From this hillside vantabe point, we could see the beautiful bay at
Kamakura.
TomO and I decided to get a can of "milk-coffee" out of the vending
machine.
Imagine our surprise and pleasure when the can came out almost too
hot to hold!
* * * Hakone * * *
We awoke to very clear weather. In fact we could see Mt. Fuji
from our hotel.
We took a set of trains including the bullet train to Odawara, a
private railway
to Gora which is near Hakone and Lake Ashi. In fact at various
times we were on
train, bus, boat and cable-car tram. At the train station we
were fortunate to
run into a guy from Singapore named Alfonse. He'd actually
READ the tourist brochure
and could show us the recommended route.
It was a beautiful day and at different points Mt. Fuji made a
dramatic backdrop.
A highlight was the Hakone Open Air Museum, a compound which
included outdoor sculpture
gardens and indoor art galleries. They have a collection of
art by world famous
artists: Miro, Picasso, Calder, Moore and so on. I
especially like the "Symphonic
Sculpture", This was a round tower with a metal spiral
staircase inside.
The walls are stained glass which you don't realize until you are
inside with the
light shining through. At the top is an observation deck.
A wading pool of hot, mineral water invites the viewers to take
their shoes off
and soak their feet!
At this point, Mt. Fuji erupted leaving only a large hole in the
ground. Not really,
just checking to see who's made it this far.
* * * Nikko * * *
Aurelio came with us to the town of Nikko, about 2 hours north of
Tokyo. Here we found Toshogu , the most popular shrine in
Japan. It is the where Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543-1616), the first
Shogun of Japan, is enshrined. The complex is vast.
We took pictures of the crimson Shinkyo Sacred Bridge. It was
originally built for the exclusive use of the Shogun and his
entourage, and now anyone with 500 yen (about $5.00) can use it.
(Please note that it doesn't go anywhere. You walk to the
other side but have to return. So if you really want to go to
the other side of the river, you might consider another route. )
At the Sacred Stable (Shinkyusha) is the famous carving of the three
monkeys in
"see-no-evil, hear-no-evil, speak-no-evil". We took our shoes
off several
times. You might consider wearing slip-ons if you come to this
shrine. By the
way, "Temple" refers to Buddhism and "Shrine" refers to Shintoism.
People seemed more insistant on this distinction than I though was
necessary! * * *
Sayonara Tokyo * * * Well, I'm at the end and I understand your disappointment that this long
rambling. Imagine how I felt, and I WROTE it! |
`I arrived at night and stayed at an hotel near the airport. The
next day I took the airport van back to the airport where Louis met
me at McDonalds. The weather is turning to Fall and can be quite
nippy.
In Korea, they drive on the other side of the road from Japan. How
confusing! I don't know how they manage! They even pass each other
on the street and stand on the escalators on the right side ? ? ?
* * *
October 25, 2005: Wonju, Korea * * *
I met Louis several years ago in Cape Town, South Africa. A year ago
he moved to Wonju (1.5 hours east of Seoul) where he teaches
English. He lives in an apartment about 10 minutes walk from the
school. He has one large room plus a small kitchen and bathroom. His
neighbor/co-worker lent him a bed for me to use. Louis moved his
little kitchen table to the living room and placed it along side of
his desk. We can sit side-by-side ... he on his computer and me on
my laptop. He or I act as the "router" ... by unpluging and pluging
his network cable back and forth between the computers.
This week he started work at 1:00 PM and quit at 9:00 PM. This gave
us time to sight-see in the mornings.
Wonju is a city of 300,000. It feel more "American" than Tokyo
because the streets are wide and there's a feeling of open space.
Yesterday I walked to the main downtown, several miles away, where
there is a market area. Stalls criss-cross a network of alleys and
streets. Here you can buy clothes, meat, vegetables and eat at
little noodle and soup tables. I'd told Louis I'd be careful to not
get lost but I didn anyway. When I came out of the bazaar, I didn't
know where I was. After a little bit of walking I found the main
street.
We've been eating at a little restaurant about 10 minutes from
Louis'. It is mostly vegetarian and we've been through the menu and
have started over again. We've had kimbap, a sushi roll. We were
able to point to the slices of ham and imitation crab and ask to
leave that out. We also ate babimbap (rice with pickled vegetables).
We even went there the next night and had dokpokkie, thick rice
noodles in a red, hot chili sauce.
You can see a "postcard" of Wonju at
* * * Seoul * * *
On the weekend we went to Seoul and met a friend of Louis' named Mr.
Park. He was a great help in getting us all around the city by bus
and subway. We took the express bus to Seoul then a subway to meet
Park.
Louis was wearing a brand new pair of shoe for which he paid a
bargain price of $7.00. Even before we got to Seoul, the sole
started coming loose. There was a shoe repair stand at the train
station and they glued it back together. (for $4.00). Before we too
much further, the second sole failed and came off completely!
Luckily he had a second pair of shoes at Park's apartment.
Kimchi is ubiquitous here. It is pickled and/or fermented cabbage
and raddish. They even sell big "chest freezers" which is really for
making and storing kimchi. The other day I went to a Baskin and
Robbins and looked for kimchi ice cream! I had to settle for sweet
potato ice cream instead. It started out taking quite nice, but when
I started to run into chunks of potato ... hhmmmmmm. They also like
pickled Chinese raddish (as do I) and they make sushi rolls
everywhere.
In Seoul Louis got his "new" cell phone activated after some
aggravations ("come back next week"). From there we went to the
electronic shopping area. We entered a building with floor after
floor of stalls selling TVs, cell phone and computers. They sell the
Korean brands of LG, TG and Samsung brands as well as Japanese and
HP and even Dell. I saw a small laptop with 2 GB of RAM that I
wanted to buy. I'm reluctant to buy a brand that isn't sold in the
US. Here were are in Seoul at a wonderful (mostly) vegetarian
buffet! s
That evening we went to a Korean Sauna (hot springs or baths). I
think it would be like the one in Kobe, Japan that our group went
to. Inside we showered and then sank into hot pools. We could even
go outside and sit in a hot pool under the stars. There were a lot
of young men there ... teenagers and in their 20s. The evening had
turned cold and the hot water felt so good. We sat in the steam
room, sauna before ending up sitting on low stools for a final soapy
scrub.
Louis and I stayed at Park's for the night. He has a special floor
sleeping pad (that I've seen advertised on their TV). It has "Jade"
(quartz) wafers and electricity so it heats up. Although I was
basically sleeping on the hard floor, I slept like a log!
The next day we took the bus to a Buddhist temple on a mountainside
just outside of Seoul. Park is a Buddhist and he showed us how to
pray in the temple. There was A LOT of kneeling and bowing and
standing and kneeling and bowing and standing! Buddha statutes were
carved in the stone outside of the temple and along side of that
were many little piles of stones. We added "our" stones to the pile,
not quite knowing why. You can see a postcard of Seoul Old Town and
the Buddhist temple
We went to the puppy stores when we came back to town. I teased Park
and asked if they were delicious. He loudly said "NO, NO". This is
the man whose name is pronounced "Bark" and who would not let me
kill the mosquito in his apartment! Like many other businesses in
Seoul, many, many pet stores are side by side.
Before we left Seoul, we went to a big downtown park. It was
filled with old people who come here for the day to meet friends,
sing, dance, drink and hang out. This was immediately next to the
Palace grounds ... the home of the former kings of Korea. You can
see some old people and city scenes in this postcard:
Sorry for the overly-long trip news e-mail. I hope that by now
you've found the delete key!
On the way to the Seoul Buddhist temple, we passed a building
with a bunch of carved "totems" out front. The shapes looked vaguely
familiar. My theory is that since Christianity is such a growing
force here and since this was close to a Buddhist temple area, I
believe these are Christian symbols that are trying to counteract
the forces of this Eastern religion.
At about the same moment we saw a woodpecker working away at the
trunk of this tree.
You can see this bird and these sacred art pieces here:
 |
| November 4, 2005 -
Chengdu, China I am now in Chengdu, China ... the
capital of the Sichuan Province ... the second most populated
province of China (Henan is the most populated province.)
(Please let me know if you want your name taken off of this
e-mailing list.)
My friend Don is in his third year of teaching English at the
Chengdu University of Technology. You can see scenes of the campus
at this web link:
http://www.cdut.edu.cn/cdut/english/Campus%20Scene.html
Don found a hotel for me at the building next to his apartment. It
is in a building with many restaurants on the ground and first
floor. The hotel "reception" was on the 5h floor and my room is on
the 6th. I have a view of the back where it is quiet.
Don and his friend Danny picked me up at the airport. The plane was
an hour late and it seemed to take a long time for luggage to arrive
on the carousel. I could see Don from the baggage area and we could
exchange sign language! we took a taxi to an intersection very near
my hotel. We couldn't get closer because they are building an
overpass and this blocks traffic.
I'm staying in a large room, polished wood floors, TV, refrigerator,
sofa, double bed, a/c, Internet connection plus bath room. It is
very inexpensive ... $12 a night. It's in a nice area ... the US
Consulate is nearby as well as Ring Road No. 2, hotels, shopping
center and restaurants.
I always pictured Don living in a dusty village, but Chengu is a
large cosmopolitan city. Chengdu's population is 2 million while the
greater Chengdu area is 6 million. There are remnants of a more
primitive way of life: pedicabs, street vendors (cooking food,
roasting chestnuts, etc.). there are lots of people, cars,
motorcycles, buses and bikes. The pedestrian is lowest on the
"right-of-way totem pole" and you have to be very careful when
crossing the street. Cars go through red lights and plow through
crosswalks at a high speed even when we have the green pedestrians
light.
On Sunday the 3 of us too a bus and taxi to the Qingsheng Mountains,
about 30 miles NW of here. Outside of the city, on the expressway,
we passed car dealerships and modern office parks.
Qingsheng is the birthplace of Daoism. It is way up the mountainside
and we walked up hundreds of steps. At one point we ferried across a
lake and took a cable car to a higher elevation. The temple was
handsome and at different places sold red candles and pink incense
which we bought and lit. You can see some sights of Qingsheng at
If you want to see the way I wanted to get up to the mountain top
temple, click on this
Yesterday I went with Don to his campus to meet with his Chinese
tutor. We had a good visit and at noon-time, walked just outside the
campus to a restaurant along the river. Tonight I will go back to
the campus to attend a music competition. Don is one of the judges!
Here are a few more pictures
|
More Chengdu,
China Nov 13-18, 2005
* * * Panda Adventure * * *
Saturday was a long, interesting day. It started out with Don,
Danny, Cody (a friend of theirs) and I taking a taxi about 20 km
into the north suburbs to Panda Adventure. This is a preserve
for Pandas. It is very well laid out; we walked into the
compound and saw panda after panda. These animals are
solitary. We never saw more that 2 in each grassy, treed
enclosure with a dry moat around it. We would be about 10 feet
away at time. They were fed bamboo stalks and leaves which were
placed in a holder.
At one point I could have put on booties and gloves and had my
picture taken with a Giant Panda for US$ 150. I opted for
photos with a Red Panda for about US$ 6.50. You can see some of
the photos we took at 
Here's a little move of a giant panda eating.
It is about 4 megabytes in size so you might not want to
download because of that.
http://www.tomdaniels.com/2005AsiaCruise/Panda.mov
* * * Karaoke* * *
We got back in time to go to the Karaoke Room across the street
from my hotel. This was similar to the one in Tokyo. The
electronic song book and controls were a little different. Don
and I sat at a computer terminal and looked through the list of
about 130 songs in English. We took turns singing English and
Chinese songs. Danny has a beautiful voice. He sang in a boy
band several years ago! You can see Karaoke pictures here 
* * * Badminton * * *
Before the evening was over, we rented space in the gymnasium at
nearby Sichuan University. We had 4 racquets so the idea was to
play doubles. Don was warming with Cody up when he slipped and
fell. So while he was sitting on the bench, I started some warm
up volleys with Danny. After about 1 minute, I tripped and fell
on the side of my face! Another older athlete on the bench. I
was hoping for a black eye, but only wound up with a couple of
scrapes. Later on Don and I returned to the court for some good
fun.
* * * Singing Competition * * *
Don invited me to his campus last Thursday night for an English
Singing contest sponsored by the Foreign Language Club and by a
local hair dresser. I started to sit in the row behind the
judges when I was asked to BE a judge. There were 12
contestants and we had sheets of paper to enter scores in the
area of Emotion, Choice of Song, Poetic Interpretation, Reaction
of Audience, Quality of Voice, etc. It was fun. At the end we
went on the stage to present awards and to have our pictures
taken. An unusual set was when 2 male hair dressers came on
stage with 2 young women. While the guys were cutting hair, a
man and woman sang a duet.
I went to one of Don's English classes last week and that was
fun. I sat in the 5th row. Don is a great teacher and the
class of 50 or so students was attentive and responsive. Four
students took their turns this week in standing in front of the
class and telling a story about themselves. Another exercise
was to look at some "Far Out" cartoons of aliens, describe
what's happening and explain why they were funny. You can see
some pictures here
* * * Restaurants * * *
There are many, many restaurants in our neighborhood. In fact
on the ground floor of my hotel are about a dozen. Many more on
the nearby streets. We've been to some more than once. I
especially like the barbecue restaurant where we get all kinds
of vegetables, seasoned and grilled on skewers. Another is a
noodle restaurant where then make noodles and dumpling wrappers
out at the front of the small eating space. We've been there
about 4 times.
I told someone I'd been to a "hot pot" restaurant and later
realized I haven't. And from what I understand, I'm not sure I
want to. You select raw meat and vegetables and then cook it
at your table in either pepper oil or some other boiling
liquids. We've passed some of these restaurants on the street
and they don't smell appetizing. Here's what it looks like:
* * * Chun Xi Rd * * *
Don needed to go to the American Consulate to get his signature
notarized. Unfortunately we on Friday 11/11/2005 and realized
that it was closed for Veterans Day! So we went to an upscale
shopping area to find the Holiday Inn ???? where we knew there'd
be a business center. They couldn't provide notary services,
but get up some information on express shippers. Anyway, this
area had large pedestrian streets. There were expensive shops
and restaurants. We saw an "art show" of posters promoting
energy saving which was interesting. The art teacher in charge
led us around explaining the posters and someone was filming us
and taking pictures. Maybe we'll turn up on TV channel 9
(English) or in the school paper!
* * *Tianfu Square and Renmin Park * * *
Two other stops that day before we returned to my hotel were
Tianfu Square (city center) and Renmin Park. Tianfu Square
noted for the statue of Mao the Liberator. He is looking across
a busy street to a huge plaza being dug up for the subway and an
underground shopping center. Neaby was Renmin Park (People's
Park) which was full of chrysanthemums and very photogenic.
Here's some photos of this place: 
|
| Shanghai,
China Nov 18-23, 2005 In Chengdu, I got
up around 5:00AM so I could finish packing, check out and take a
taxi to the airport. Danny came over to my hotel to get me and we
went to Don's apartment for a quick breakfast and coffee before
leaving.
My luggage was over weight and I had to pay US$50 for Air China to
fly it to Shanghai. The flight was about 2 hours and when I
arrived, I got a Hotel Shuttle Bus which brought me near my hotel.
The driver gestured and pointed m"3 blocks in that direction". This
turned out to be the way and I check in to the Magnificent Plaza
Hotel.
* * * Magnificent Plaza Hotel * * *
Oddly enough, this hotel resembled the hotel where I stayed in 1984
(but is actually a lot newer) I had 2 large rooms and the biggest
bed I think I've ever slept in.The hotel was walking distance to the
Shanghai Museum, Peoples Park, the subway, Nanjing Road and the
Bund. But to get there, I walked past about 4 blocks of little
shops. As the day progressed, more vendors came out on this street
until in the evening the sidewalk was packed with people cooking
food to sell, produce, jewelry, clothes, DVDs, etc.
* * * Shanghai Museum * * *
This is one of the first places I went. I spent time in the
"Minority History", Jade and Ceramic galleries. At the end I saw
the Louis XIV exhibit of paintings, sculpture, tapestry, etc.
related to the reign of this French monarch. The signs for the
exhibit were in French and Chinese.
* * * Market * * *
I went to the market which is a large area separated into 2 main
areas: Food and merchandise. The vendors were very aggressive
here. They met my cab waving pictures of Louis Vitton bags and
Rolex watches. As I walked through the merchandise area, vendors
grabbed my arm and poked and pulled me! I smiled and shook my
head. I loved looking at the scarves, Chinese jackets, leather
jackets, jewelry, binoculars, hats, golf clubs, shoes and so on.
The food market was something to see too ... plastic basins
"boiling" with swimming eels, crabs, bull frogs, clams, fish, fruit,
vegetables and the largest assortment of tofu I've ever seen. I
came to the market 3 times but didn't buy very much. One time, a
guy started talking to me. He wasn't bothered that I wasn't buying
anything. He wanted to practice his English. At one point he said
he worked in a "hospital". Did I want to see it? I thought that
would be interesting. Actually he said "house" and I ended up at
his "uncle's" place, down a street, up an alley, through the
kitchen, up 2 flights of stairs and into a room lined with designer
bags and Rolex watches.
High quality fakes. President Bush was in Beijing that day and the
police were walking through the market in groups of 5 and 6 and I
saw signs warning about selling fake goods. There were other
westerners in this room buying and I looked at the bags and watches
but didn't buy anything.
You can see some pictures of the market at: 
* * * Ferry to Pudong * * *
The guy at the market and his friend offered to take me across the
Huangpu River to the Pudong section of Shanghai. This used to be
farm land and but now the only thing planted there are some of the
tallest buildings in Asian. We took a taxi to the Bund, walked
along admiring the views, to the ferry which took us across the
river to Pudong. We walked to the Shangrila Hotel where I stayed
with John and Jill in 2001. The hotel has built a new tower behind
the old one. I walked through the lobby of the "old" hotel and
admired the city views.
* * * Shanghai Pearl Tower * * *
This tower was the next stop. I bought tickets for the 3 of us to
go up to the observation deck. Unfortunately the sunny clear skies
of the prior days were replaced with a mocha haze and I couldn't see
all that far, but I saw impressive panoramas anyway. You can see
tower pictures at
* * * Bund * * *
I went to the Bund at night. This is the area along the Huangpu
River. Shanghai is historically an international trading city and
the influence of Europe can be seen in the architecture of the old
building. Beautiful at night.
* * * Nanjing Road * * *
From the Bund, I walk along until I came to Nanjing Road. This is a
very upscale commercial area. At a certain point it is for
pedestrian only. I shopped in a Japanese deparment store called Uni
Qlo and had a coke float at an ice cream shop.
* * * Xintiandi area * * *
This is a renovated, tourist area, walking distance, from my Hotel.
I walked around the lake there, saw the location of the first
National Congress of the Communist Party of China. I ate dim sum at
a Taiwanese restaurant called Din Tai Fung. There was plenty of
shopping around here (a Shanghai Tang store $$$), Starbucks,
McDonalds, etc. The Coffee Bean is another coffee place that
competes with Starbucks. When I sat there drinking coffee, I was
able to connect my PDA to the Internet through their wireless
connection!
* * * Old Shanghai Street * * *
I walked to this more structured tourist area. This was the first
time I'd seen so many westerners since I arrived in China! More
aggressive vendors.
* * * Subway * * *
There are 3 subway lines in Shanghai and 2 of them come near my
hotel. If you go a certain station, you can take the Maglev train
to the Pudong Airport. I took a ride to the Science museum which
involved changing from one line to another. The maps were easy to
understand (Chinese and English). I bought one-way tickets for my
rides each costing around $US 0.50.
A few more pictures of Shanghai can be seen at
Today I am on my way to Hong Kong. TomO will fly in from
Australia and meet me the next day. |
Hong Kong &
Macao Nov 23-28, 2005
* * * Shanghai to Hong Kong * * *
I took a one hour taxi ride to the Shanghai Airport. This cost
about US$25.00. The day was trying to be sunny, but was also hazy.
Several Magnetic Levatation (MagLev) trains passed us by. You can
take the Shanghai subway to the MagLev station to get to the
airport. I flew to HK on Dragon Air and they didn't weigh my
luggage (luckily!)
* * * Kowloon * * *
A Hong Kong friend, Robert, met my plane and together we took the
Express Train to Kowloon. This train is a special part of the HK
subway system that has 4 stations on it. It only stopped once ...
at HK Disneyland, which is in the direction of the new HK airport.
Robert is ethnically Chinese and works for a Japanese cosmetic
company (manufacturing and distribution logistics) and speaks
Japanese, 3 dialects of Chinese as well as English. He was a great
help in seeing HK.
* * * Thanksgiving in HK * * *
TomO flew in on Thanksgiving, the day after I arrived, and I went to
the airport to meet him. We returned to our Kowloon Hotel (that's
the name of it). We had a room the 17th floor, the "club" floor (we
got a lot of extras). One thing that wasn't included was space! It
was one of the smallest rooms on the whole trip! The hotel was
situated on Nathan Road between the Peninsula Hotel and the YMCA ...
a great tourist location ... we could walk to the Star Ferry and
lots of nearby shopping.
We ate Thanksgiving dinner on the 9th floor of a Japanese restaurant
facing HK Island. We expected the nightly firewords at 8PM, but
instead the bulidings across the way lit up and there was a laser
light show off of about 5 of the tallest buildings.
One view of from Hong Kong:
* * * HK Island * * *
We traced and retraces some tourist steps in Hong Kong ... Tram to
Victoria Peak, Excalator "Street" up the hill from Central, The
Night Market and the Stanley Market. A highlight was a sea food
dinner with 6 of Robert's friends. One of the dishes was crab ...
which had the biggest and fattest claws I've ever seen. Afterwards
we went to a harborside bar for drinks.
Another night we ate as a grilled restaurant where you are served
raw food next to a foot square extremely hot, flat stone. You put
your food on the stone and cook it to order.
Near the Stanley Market (lots and lots of stalls), a shop was
untying a load of fresh Christmas Trees. I went over and look at a
tag which said they were Douglas fir had come from
Sublimity, Oregon. Another "Postcard" from Hong Kong:
* * * Macao * * *
On Saturday we took the 1 hour fast ferry to Macao. This island was
returned to China from the Portuguese in 1999 and like HK is a
Special Administrative Region (SAR). It is popular because of the
casinos. Las Vegas resorts have casinos here. The highlight was
the Ruins of St. Paul. This was a Catholic church built originally
in the 1600s but had burned 3 times since then. The last time was
in the mid 1800s and now all that is standing is the front wall and
the steps leading up to it.
The Macao was performing an outdoor concert and you could sit of the
steps of St. Pauls and listen. Here are 2 "Postcards" from Macao: 
* * * Oakland * * *
TomO and I flew home on Cathay Pacific airlines on Monday,
11/28/05. It's great to be home! Season's Greetings: Merry
Christmas and Happy New Year. Click here to see my Digital
Christmas Card:
Love from TomD |
This site was last updated
01/14/10
|
