Leaving Kobe

ylad to be on the wat  6:30 Am  and the vibretions feel good.  The internet was down for a week in Japan.  Dont knownwhy.  r. Matt is riding his bicyle on the deck  The Archbishop and Mrs. are walinf round and roound.  Rube and Margret are gossiping in the corner and I am glad to be on the way home.

Kobe Wednesday

 

      The internet  connection is off but I cansyill write inthis blog connection.  Hope I dont lose it as I did two days ago after writing for a hour.   Temperature screening is still going on for an hour.  I will take half a day to finish the disembarkation proceedures.  Much longer than anywhere else.  Altho were are here five days there is less planned than usual.  Two days with no trips.  We are in the city and will have toi get around on our own.  Do plan a trip to Hiroshima on the bullet train on Friday.  We  have made 1000 paper cranes to give to the children of hope.  It was supposed to be a small trip but is growing as there are few options.  Big trips are getting very dificult.   Many people, students and faculty are going indpendently, but not here.  It is too expensive.   Even the rail pass is over 200 dollars.

There was a fireboa  and a brass band as we approached the harbor at 8 AM.   We all marched around  the deck as a thank you to the band.  It was a rousing welcome dispite the rain.

Qingdao continues

    The weather has turned cold, now more breakfast on the aftedeck.  Actually wore my black silk underware under my jeans {thank you Amy).     Visit to the Childrens Palace was outstan.ding.  This isan afterschool and weekend program sponsored by yhe government.We went on a Sunday morning and the many classes were packed.  Rverythig fromtable tennis, to violin,ballet, tai quan dow, watercolor, and Chinese dance.  The large classes were well disciplined and the rooms were ringed with parents.  The one child policy produces devoted parents.  Thonly two  children I saw were twins.    We werre not taken to the industrial districts or the workers barracks.   The six and ten story apartment blocks were extensivs.  Pocket parks dotted the area and street corners were taken up by men playng cards.  They will have to tackle the smog problem before the Olympics.

Qingdao, China

   Easternmost city of China.  Once a German colony.  Red roofed old town and brewery started by the Germans.  Now Tsingdao Beer is the leadingbeer o China.  Thetour through the brewery was the most spectauler sight they could produce.  It is a vast operation now jointly with Anhauser Busch.   Sponsor of the sailing Olympics for 2008.  The shorefront is beautiful and should be a peerfect venue but there was not a T-shirt in sight.  Very disapointed.  Never thought I would feel that way about a T- shirt!  The park is dominated by a huge red sculpture Independence Day-May 4  1919 when China got the city back from Japan.        Returned in nthevening  with Mary and Michel Weill  for  dinner.  Chose the most brilliantly lit restaurent on the strip.  Live fish and shellfish in the entrancway,  30 platters to choose from to see how it will be prepared' We selected three and waitwed  with our pitcher of Tsingdao beer.  The fish was grilled with tangy sauce,the spiced prk was on a bed of perfect broccoli 

Leaving Vietnam

      It was a very fast trip,  one day Saigon 3 days cambodia , ond day Saigon.  Hard to catch your breath.   Cambodia was everythihg expected and more.  The ancient relic of Anchor Wat permeates the culture.  Everyone comes to Siem Reap (city) to pay their rerspects.  one Hundred hotels have been built in the last 2 years.  There are over  adoxen major sights nearby,  we touvhed on 5 but passed many more.  This is all overlaid by tourism.  There are many other sights in Cambodia and perhaps it is better to seek out others.  Cambodias Hope is an orphanage ouside Phenom Phen  supprort ed by former SAS students.  Worth a visit a base to contribute some medical know-how and find less exposed sights.  They also have a base at the beach 80 miles away.   The folklore dance group rivals the one we saw at the dinner presentation.  Must come back.

  Cambodia is behind Vietnam in industrial ddevelopment but moving fast.  Saigon may be moving too fast.  The industry outside the city requires massive nunbers and they are all excited by Intel building a huge investment.  They will carry alot of investment along with them.  But the many dressemakesrs  still produce beautiful clothes to exact measure in three hours.   The mens suits are outstanding of fine wools with silk linings.  There is so much competition it is hard to choose. 

Vietnam

      Four hours going up the Saigon River.  The broad delta with few fishing boats gradually narrowed and became very busy.   Freighters loaded with containers going in both directions,hpuse boats with families.  The shores with tall lifts grain cylinders  long wharfs with barges along side.  As theriver narrows the traffic increases.   Alond the dock ten Vietnamese dancers are waiting to welcome.    The first view of the town is streaming motorcycles,  endless lines going in several directions at once.  We were told to cross ingroups and go slowly in a straight line.  The downtown district #1  is still called Saigon even tho the

town is Ho Chi Min City.  The women on motorcyles wear masks and long gloves to protect tnem from the sun.  It is considered advantageous to be lighter skinned.  Families with three childrenall ride on one motor cycle.   Lunch at Maxims a fancy restarant left over from the French era but with excellent Chinese food.      New york time is 12  hours behind- much easier to keep track.

Explore at sea Most of the voyagers have left the ship to explore China, Beiging, the Great Wall. Only 66 on board and we are having a proper cruise for two days. Dinner is served nightly in the main dining roomand every one dresses in thei Vietnam finery. We play bridge all moning and watch movies in the afternoon. Totally decadent. My friend Pat has left me her cell phone and it is a delight to be able to talk to everyone. A phone is a must onthei trip to keep in touch. When I wanted to make a local call in Hong Kong a g irl on the street seeing my dilema gave me the proper coin. I miss the lectures but will start again in Qingdao. Thelast port for cheap shopping. We have beenspoiled by the extraordinary variety. Japan will be quite different. By the way Tin Tin comics were all over Cambodia in every language!

Leaving Vietman

Angkor WatCambodia

.. Exhausting but fabulous.  Five Temples in two days  plus a trip down the Siem Reap canal  to see the  lake people.  They live on boats canoes and   barges   that rise   up thirty feet in the monsoons.  The floatng school and restaurant too.  They now do fish farming and raise crockodiles but it is still marginal..         Arrived at the Temple at 5 am to see the sunrise  I went in alone as everyone waited for the sun.  An hour alone was magical  all the dancers . buddhas and carvings seemed alive.  Then the rain came with the grey clouds, and no sun.   Hordes of people thronged thru the passageways  but I had my private time.  Each suceeding Temple added to the glory of a time long past.  The jungle had captured  many of

the structures and many are being restored by tha Japanese Germans Fren chand Koreans  not the Americans.  Many small children  but no teenagers  it is only in the last ten years that there is peace.  The internet is much faster with the ship empty but I must go for my last day in Saigon.

Angkor Wat Cambodia

Saigon, its Jumping

    Ifthetraffic doesnt get you the hawkers will.  You get off the bus and they are ready and waiting.      Three hour trip up the  Rive r Saigon was levely in the early morning.  Fisherman hauling their nets while freighters loaded with containers passed on the other side.   As we approached our berth a dozen dancing girl were twirling their umbrellas .  We toured the history mueum which proved that the delta was settled in prehistory.   Thena performance of the Water Puppets  dancing on a water stage.  The story goes that the area is flooded for four months of the year so they had to figure out some entertainment.   Then the former preidental Palace with conference rooms seating 100.  An underground war room was such alabyrinth that 6 of us got lost for 20 minutes.     Lunch was at a glamorous French restaurant  Maxims  but it was totally Vietnamese.  Seven courses but I couldnt sat what we were eating..  Then the Post Office where you could make phone calls but it was 5 am in New York, so I passed.

Bunkering Singapore

Steam Hot Penang

Vary hot so it is only possible to be out in the morning.  Thei mix of cultures in Georgtown is interesting but you soo relaize it ia all orruring in four square blocks.  The rest of the city is being swallowed by malls and condominiums.   The trips outside the city were great-fish farming. exotic fruits and spices.  But they have cut all the teak trees to make way for  palm oil trees  the future for biodegradable fuel.  They have the second longest suspension bridge the second largest computer chip exporters and hope to

 be a first world country by 2020.   International phone calls were impossible but everyone is talking on a cell all the time.  The peninsula will have free wifi next year.

Steam Penang

Penang, Malaysia