tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22306920680766034362024-01-24T16:41:36.199-08:00Ed's ExperiencesThe primary purpose of this blog is to document my world travels and other experiences I have had during my life.Edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03034021752003929779noreply@blogger.comBlogger48125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2230692068076603436.post-25604838988101594112024-01-24T16:41:00.000-08:002024-01-24T16:41:03.537-08:00<p> <b><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24pt; letter-spacing: -0.35pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt; mso-ligatures: none; padding: 0in;">Veterans, assemble! ‘Wings Over Wendy’ team signs off Zoom
and meets in person</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-outline-level: 2; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #1f1e1e; font-family: Poppins; font-size: 17.5pt; letter-spacing: -0.3pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Veterans of all ages, all branches,
any town are welcome to join the Wings Over Wendy's meetings in-person and
online<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: rgb(250, 250, 250); line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Poppins; font-size: 11.5pt;">By <a href="https://www.dailynews.com/author/dennis-mccarthy/" title="Posts by Dennis McCarthy"><b><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; color: blue; font-family: "inherit",serif; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in; text-transform: uppercase;">DENNIS MCCARTHY</span></b></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: rgb(250, 250, 250); line-height: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span face="Helvetica, sans-serif">PUBLISHED: July
2, 2021 at 3:10 p.m. | UPDATED: July 2, 2021 at 3:14 p.m.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: rgb(250, 250, 250); line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "Source Serif Pro", serif; font-size: 12.5pt; letter-spacing: -0.1pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: rgb(250, 250, 250); line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://wpdash.medianewsgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/0216_nws_ldn-l-mccarthy-wendys-02161.jpg"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; color: blue; font-family: "Source Serif Pro", serif; font-size: 12.5pt; letter-spacing: -0.1pt; padding: 0in; text-decoration-line: none;"><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shape id="Picture_x0020_8" o:spid="_x0000_i1026"
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group goodbye photo at the Wendy’s restaurant on Platt Avenue in West Hills.
The group then met in a Wendy’s in Woodland Hills before they outgrew that
location. They still meet on Mondays, on Zoom and in-person, at a location on
Shoup Avenue in West Hills. (Courtesy)<o:p></o:p></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: rgb(250, 250, 250); line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "Source Serif Pro", serif; font-size: 12.5pt; letter-spacing: -0.1pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: rgb(250, 250, 250); line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "Source Serif Pro", serif; font-size: 12.5pt; letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">You can’t replace a handshake and a hug. If we learned anything about
independence this past year, we learned that.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: rgb(250, 250, 250); line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "Source Serif Pro", serif; font-size: 12.5pt; letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">A little over a month ago, on Memorial Day, 60 older veterans who self
quarantined in their Valley homes and apartments for over a year finally got to
see each other in the flesh again.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: rgb(250, 250, 250); line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "Source Serif Pro", serif; font-size: 12.5pt; letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">It was like old home week, said Ed Reynolds, a retired Air Force
lieutenant colonel, who had set up weekly Zoom meetings for some of them to
stay in touch. Ed’s a tech savvy guy, but trying to teach the typewriter
generation how to Zoom on a computer they can barely operate was a challenge,
but most of them learned.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: rgb(250, 250, 250); line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "Source Serif Pro", serif; font-size: 12.5pt; letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">Now, they were back in the same room, shaking hands, hugging and back
slapping each other – carrying on like it was one, big, family reunion, which
it was.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: rgb(250, 250, 250); line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "Source Serif Pro", serif; font-size: 12.5pt; letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">“So many characters with so many stories to tell,” is the way Ed put it.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: rgb(250, 250, 250); line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "Source Serif Pro", serif; font-size: 12.5pt; letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">Many of the vets had been meeting for more than 15 years every Monday
morning at a Wendy’s in West Hills for a cup of coffee and a few hours of
camaraderie.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: rgb(250, 250, 250); line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "Source Serif Pro", serif; font-size: 12.5pt; letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">They remember the group’s co-founder Fred “Crash” Blechman, a Navy
Corsair pilot, who earned his nickname for crashing four of our fighter planes
while never shooting down one on the other side.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: rgb(250, 250, 250); line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "Source Serif Pro", serif; font-size: 12.5pt; letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">They remember Ed “Bomber” Koscinski, who walked in one day and asked if
he could join. When Poland was captured, he was forced to become a German MIG
pilot. He spent the war trying to shoot these guys down. Didn’t matter, he was
a veteran. C’mon in.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: rgb(250, 250, 250); line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "Source Serif Pro", serif; font-size: 12.5pt; letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">“I would sit out in my car in the parking lot watching the guys arrive,”
the late Art Sherman, a B-24 Bombardier in World War II and former leader of
the group, told me. “They’d get their walkers out of the trunk and slowly make
their way across the parking lot. You could tell they were in pain.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: rgb(250, 250, 250); line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "Source Serif Pro", serif; font-size: 12.5pt; letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">“By the time they got to the door, though, they were already smiling.
They knew what was waiting inside for them.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: rgb(250, 250, 250); line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "Source Serif Pro", serif; font-size: 12.5pt; letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">Camaraderie, and the thing they needed most growing old, laughter. Many
of these vets were widowers with sons and daughters who begged their lonely
fathers to get out of the house and join the group. Don’t give up.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: rgb(250, 250, 250); line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "Source Serif Pro", serif; font-size: 12.5pt; letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">Others had wives who couldn’t stand to see their once vibrant husbands
just sit in front of a TV set from morning to night. They twisted their arms to
go to one of the meetings, just to see how they’d like it. They loved it. So
did their wives. They dropped their husbands off and went shopping for a few
hours.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: rgb(250, 250, 250); line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "Source Serif Pro", serif; font-size: 12.5pt; letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">From half a dozen World War II flyboys meeting for the first time over
lunch in 2002, the group had grown to more than 100, encompassing every branch
of service, and the spouses and children of its members, if they wanted to come
to the meetings.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: rgb(250, 250, 250); line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "Source Serif Pro", serif; font-size: 12.5pt; letter-spacing: -0.1pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: rgb(250, 250, 250); line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "Source Serif Pro", serif; font-size: 12.5pt; letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">Retired
Air Force Lt. Col. Ed Reynolds File photo</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: rgb(250, 250, 250); line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "Source Serif Pro", serif; font-size: 12.5pt; letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">It’s a wonderful story, but the truth is, they’re only scratching the
surface. There are thousands more older veterans sitting in their homes in the
Valley today fighting the same enemy and losing – giving in to the loneliness
and depression.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: rgb(250, 250, 250); line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "Source Serif Pro", serif; font-size: 12.5pt; letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">If you have a retired neighbor living alone or know someone who was in
the service, and might be battling their own demons, let them know </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: rgb(250, 250, 250); line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "Source Serif Pro", serif; font-size: 12.5pt; letter-spacing: -0.1pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: rgb(250, 250, 250); line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "Source Serif Pro", serif; font-size: 12.5pt; letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">there’s a
big, family reunion of veterans meeting every Monday morning and they’re
welcome to join in.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: rgb(250, 250, 250); line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "Source Serif Pro", serif; font-size: 12.5pt; letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">They’ll be plenty of handshakes and hugs, and don’t worry about feeling
out of place, because you won’t be. That special bond veterans have of taking
care of each other has no expiration date on it.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: rgb(250, 250, 250); line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "Source Serif Pro", serif; font-size: 12.5pt; letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">On Monday, a 45-minute film on the history of the Fourth of July will be
shown. There’s a meet and greet from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. then the meeting and
film begins.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: rgb(250, 250, 250); line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "Source Serif Pro", serif; font-size: 12.5pt; letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">The group outgrew its space at Wendy’s, and now meets in a former
synagogue located on the El Camino High north campus, 7401 Shoup Ave. in West
Hills. Parking is available in the school lot on Variel Avenue.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: rgb(250, 250, 250); line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "Source Serif Pro", serif; font-size: 12.5pt; letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">For more information, give Ed Reynolds a call at 818-884-4013.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: rgb(250, 250, 250); line-height: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><i><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-family: "inherit", serif; font-size: 12.5pt; letter-spacing: -0.1pt; padding: 0in;">Dennis
McCarthy’s column runs on Sunday. He can be reached at dmccarthynews@gmail.com.</span></i><span style="font-family: "Source Serif Pro", serif; font-size: 12.5pt; letter-spacing: -0.1pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>Edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03034021752003929779noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2230692068076603436.post-84652734581329881682018-02-15T13:06:00.000-08:002019-05-10T13:47:56.847-07:00Wings over Wendy’s takes flight from West Hills - February 2018<br />
<br />
<header class="entry-header article-header" style="background-color: #fafafa; border-bottom-color: transparent; border-bottom-style: solid; border-image: initial; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: initial; border-width: 0px 0px 3px; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap; float: none; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; justify-content: space-between; line-height: inherit; margin: 2em 0px -2.25em; padding: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline; width: 1280px;"><div class="header-title-area" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline; z-index: 1;">
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<span class="dfm-title" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Dennis McCarthy: Wings over Wendy’s takes flight from West Hills. </span></h1>
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<span class="dfm-title" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">But these WWII vets have a place to land</span></h1>
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<figcaption style="border-bottom-color: rgb(221, 216, 213); border-bottom-style: solid; border-image: initial; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: initial; border-width: 0px 0px 3px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #5d5b5a; font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.8125em; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.3; margin: 0px 0px 1.0625em; padding: 1.07143em 0px 0.71429em; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;">Wings over Wendy’s group goodbye photo. (Courtesy)</figcaption></figure><br />
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By <a class=" author-name" href="https://www.dailynews.com/author/dmccarthynewsgmail-com/" rel="author" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: 1.7; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; text-transform: uppercase; vertical-align: baseline;" title="Posts by Dennis McCarthy">DENNIS MCCARTHY</a> |</div>
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<time datetime="2018-02-15 18:21:59" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">February 15, 2018 at 6:21 pm</time></div>
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<div class="body-copy" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Source Serif Pro", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.03125em; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; letter-spacing: -0.01em; line-height: 1.63636; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font: inherit; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<em style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“As soon as we put the guns down, we were able to talk as men.” – Mike “Bomber” Karatsonyi, who flew with the German Luftwaffe in World War II.</em></div>
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It was moving day Monday for “Wings Over Wendy’s,” that raucous, lovable group of old military flyboys and aviation veterans who have been meeting for coffee and camaraderie every Monday morning for the last 16 years at the Wendy’s on Platt Avenue in West Hills.</div>
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Ron Ross, owner of the restaurant, lost his lease to an El Pollo Loco, which was willing to pay double the $10,000-a-month rent Ross was paying for the location.</div>
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It seems there’s a shortage of restaurants with drive-thru’s in the Valley, so companies looking for potential sites check when leases are coming up for renewal, and swoop in offering a lot more money, he said.</div>
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Ross owns another Wendy’s at 22611Ventura Boulevard in Woodland Hills, and that’s where the group will meet from now on because, well, “Wings Over El Pollo Loco” doesn’t quite get it.</div>
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It seems like only yesterday I was sitting in the city room on a slow Monday morning in 2002 praying for a good column to drop in my lap when a guy named Fred “Crash” Blechman called and invited me to join him and a few of his World War II buddies at Wendy’s for the 99-cent senior lunch special — a cheeseburger, fries, and drink of your choice.</div>
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Now how can you pass up an opportunity like that? You can’t. Turns out the guys were starting a club, and they wanted my help getting the word out.</div>
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Crash, I came to find out, earned his dubious nickname for crashing five Navy fighter planes during his four years of military service. He was great on take-offs, but his landings were a little shaky.</div>
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Sitting with Crash was Mickey Epstein, a B-24 Liberator flight engineer, Ed Figueroa, a B-26 gunner, Ernie Bankey, an “ace” pilot who shot down 11 enemy planes, and Mike “Bomber” Karatsonyi, who fortunately wasn’t one of them.</div>
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Bomber flew a Messerschmitt Me-109 in the war with the Luftwaffe. After the Germans occupied Hungary, Mike was told either fly with us or go to a concentration camp.</div>
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And now here he was, 60-plus years later, having a cheeseburger, and catching up on old times with guys who wanted to shoot him out of the sky.</div>
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“No hard feelings?” I asked the guys. None, they said.</div>
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“As soon as we put the guns down, we were able to talk as men,” Bomber said. “Pilots are a special breed.”</div>
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He said he knew the war was almost over the day he took off with 40 other Luftwaffe pilots, and they were met by 1,200 American planes.</div>
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“Mike defended his country and did what he had to do. We all respected that,” said Lee Auger, who received his 16-year pin Monday as the longest member of “Wings Over Wendy’s” still living.</div>
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The column in 2002 found its way into the homes of hundreds of former aviation veterans in LA County. The next week 20 more guys showed up for lunch, then 40 more. The group grew so large there was no room for regular customers, so Ross had to move the luncheon meetings to morning breakfast, which wasn’t easy because he wasn’t open for breakfast.</div>
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But for his Wings guys, he staffed and opened his restaurant two hours early. He didn’t have to. He wasn’t making a dime on them. Coffee was free.</div>
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But Ross knew from their wives and children how important it was for these old warriors to get out of their homes for a few hours every week and hang out together swapping old war stories.</div>
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“It’s an honor to have them in my restaurant,” Ross has said many times.</div>
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Today, “Wings Over Wendy’s” has more than 300 members, of which about 100 show up for coffee and camaraderie every Monday morning. They also added a Tuesday morning meeting at the Tarzana Community and Cultural Center, 19130 Ventura Blvd from 9:30 a.m. until 11 a.m.</div>
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All military veterans, not just aviators, are now invited to join, said the group’s president Ed Reynolds, who can be reached at (818) 884-4013 for more information.</div>
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“These meetings have become lifelines to many of the guys, especially the ones who have lost their wives and were just sitting at home vegetating,” said Art Sherman, a B-24 bombardier and intelligence officer in World War II.</div>
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“Our members come from all over Los Angeles County to finally talk about the war experiences they could never talk to their families about. It’s been a lifesaver for them, including me.”</div>
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Yeah, I got lucky that day Crash called. That 99-cent senior special turned out to be the best lunch I ever had.</div>
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Edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03034021752003929779noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2230692068076603436.post-13129168416360740362017-04-24T21:28:00.000-07:002019-05-11T21:33:41.768-07:00Air Refueling Talk - April 2017<div align="center" class="WingNews1" style="margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: 22pt;">April 24, 2017<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 20pt;">Ed Reynolds<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6zSM3qH-OLdHTY76Q81Ro6kRP4tCLLw7IQpfSi3ZRUdRQYY8DMhkFbCVZUG1Alke4-5g1_PwyhyR7emSYDn2n4QlzdkQiER0ZOCffMECASd3l0f2bNgQLd6I_em_XotyMuKzy0TWwHpJ9/s1600/2019-05-11_21-22-38.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="327" data-original-width="322" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6zSM3qH-OLdHTY76Q81Ro6kRP4tCLLw7IQpfSi3ZRUdRQYY8DMhkFbCVZUG1Alke4-5g1_PwyhyR7emSYDn2n4QlzdkQiER0ZOCffMECASd3l0f2bNgQLd6I_em_XotyMuKzy0TWwHpJ9/s320/2019-05-11_21-22-38.jpg" width="315" /></a></div>
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On April 24<sup>th</sup> Ed Reynolds spoke to the gathering about military air refueling. Describing the first Army air refueling mission in 1929 titled the “Question Mark?” which flew for seven days between San Diego and Los Angeles and then profiled the “tanker” aircraft the military has used up to the new KC-46.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="WingNews1">
Ed also described the various methods used since 1929 to transfer fuel between aircraft and those in use today. He has flown 2,000 hours in both the KC-97 and KC-135 and he described the air refueling operations in use by the military to safely rendezvous the tankers and receivers and conduct the transfer of fuel. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div align="center" class="Credits" style="text-align: center;">
Reported by Ed Reynolds<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><u><span style="font-size: 22pt;">Conversation with Heroes<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2230692068076603436" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2230692068076603436" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2230692068076603436" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2230692068076603436" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a>Our “Conversations with Heroes” program was active during the month. Ed Reynolds was interviewed by a group of students from Cleveland HS, April 6th; spoke at a class at El Camino Real Charter High School on April 7<sup>th </sup>and the Rotary Club of Greater Van Nuys on April 27<sup>th</sup>.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03034021752003929779noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2230692068076603436.post-7978006545388789532016-11-09T11:00:00.000-08:002019-05-11T22:10:25.826-07:00Post Election 2016<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>November 9, 2016 - Post Election</b></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
November is always a busy month for veterans. In 2016 I attended six events prior to Veterans Day. One of the most memorable was North Valley Military Institute on November 9th. It was the morning after Donald Trump had beaten Hillary Clinton in the United States Presidential Election. I was invited to appear in the viewing stands to watch the students pass in review. The featured speaker on that occasion was Congressman Adam Schiff. The guests were lined up by service at the edge of the parade grounds and were escorted across the grounds to the viewing stands. The USAF as the youngest service was last and as I stood awaiting my escort I was next to the Congressman. I attempted to engage him in conversation about the upset election. He appeared to be shell shocked and was not complimentary of the newly elected president. His assistant took a picture of the scene.</div>
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Edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03034021752003929779noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2230692068076603436.post-90136916750024108292016-08-01T17:27:00.000-07:002019-05-10T17:28:57.033-07:00Meeting Leadership passed from Art Sherman to Ed Reynolds - August 1, 2016<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2230692068076603436" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2230692068076603436" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2230692068076603436" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2230692068076603436" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a><br />
<div align="center" class="NoIndent" style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Meeting
Leadership<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="WingNews1">
Sadly, health problems caught up with Art Sherman during the
year and he turned over the meeting podium to Ed Reynolds in June. Art was awarded the title of “Leader Emeritus”
in August and Howard Swerdlick was made an Honorary Private for outstanding
support and service to Wings Over Wendy’s.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div align="center" class="NoIndent" style="text-align: center;">
</div>
<div align="center" class="Credits" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="WingNews1">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6v5ZTEcl9fZiNz_ja05jb7pTulIUbxyXibcDsDsbn0JJ_AnNruhncX5Lo7sgC0wAM1ID9BySJkNN6SwkMEYXIKYZDXzOPxMbfleTp2Y46cZjL0bKnoQYoHFDQZyj6aD2xrBg9AegSoAgu/s1600/2019-05-10_17-24-53.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="224" data-original-width="487" height="294" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6v5ZTEcl9fZiNz_ja05jb7pTulIUbxyXibcDsDsbn0JJ_AnNruhncX5Lo7sgC0wAM1ID9BySJkNN6SwkMEYXIKYZDXzOPxMbfleTp2Y46cZjL0bKnoQYoHFDQZyj6aD2xrBg9AegSoAgu/s640/2019-05-10_17-24-53.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03034021752003929779noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2230692068076603436.post-14690486875406137732016-05-01T17:06:00.000-07:002019-05-10T17:08:36.319-07:00Ed Reynolds Accepts Wings Over Wendy's California Legislature Assembly Resolution<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjILO62ygivrXw8e8-TypFASpsRe95uuyz0B4TOTjmvrkyN0ntXGz84svTOUofeT3ZlQOSyQiJiyxKstW5oR5BEa7VIVi9CfLoYwJ0q2d3G9XJaXBRLi3aV5kqSf3k3CCmlpEKUPlL4IQyj/s1600/2019-05-10_16-55-18.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="148" data-original-width="581" height="162" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjILO62ygivrXw8e8-TypFASpsRe95uuyz0B4TOTjmvrkyN0ntXGz84svTOUofeT3ZlQOSyQiJiyxKstW5oR5BEa7VIVi9CfLoYwJ0q2d3G9XJaXBRLi3aV5kqSf3k3CCmlpEKUPlL4IQyj/s640/2019-05-10_16-55-18.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div align="center" class="WingNews1" style="line-height: 102%; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 102%;">Wings Over Wendy’s Awarded California
Legislature Assembly Resolution<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 102%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div align="center" class="WingNews1" style="line-height: 102%; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;">
<v:shapetype coordsize="21600,21600" filled="f" id="_x0000_t75" o:preferrelative="t" o:spt="75" path="m@4@5l@4@11@9@11@9@5xe" stroked="f">
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<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 102%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">On behalf of the organization, Ed Reynolds
accepted Resolution No. 1597 from California Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom and 45<sup>th</sup>
Assembly District Assemblymember Matthew Dababneh on April 3, 2016. WOW was also given a California State flag at
the Town Hall meeting</span>Edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03034021752003929779noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2230692068076603436.post-18540126574494625112015-09-28T15:42:00.001-07:002015-09-28T15:45:23.025-07:00Visiting Travel Warnings List Countries - Letter to International Travel News - October 2015<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Jeff Carrier of Naples, Florida, had the following
request for subscribers<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #191815;"> </span></span><em style="font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; color: #191815; padding: 0in;">(J<a href="https://www.intltravelnews.com/2015/01/violence-thailands-far-south-also-when-hotel-rates-are-lowest-select-cities" style="font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; outline: 0px;"><b><span style="color: #004f8d;">an. ’15,
pg. 68</span></b></a>)</span></em>: “I would like input from readers who have
traveled recently to any of the nearly 40 countries that are pretty much always
on the US State Department’s ‘Travel Warnings’ list, which appears monthly in<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #191815;"> </span></span><em style="font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; outline: 0px;"><b><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; color: #191815; padding: 0in;">ITN</span></b></em>. How did they do it and what were their
experiences?” A number of responses were printed in last month’s issue. The
remainder appear below.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; outline: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Note
that, due to the unstable nature of countries on the warnings list and recent
changes to the list, itself, certain countries mentioned below may be more
dangerous or less dangerous than when these travelers visited them. For
up-to-date information, visit<em style="font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; color: #191815; padding: 0in;"><a href="http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/english/alertswarnings.html" style="font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; outline: 0px;"><b><span style="color: #004f8d;">http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/english/alertswarnings.html</span></b></a></span></em>.
For the current Travel Warnings list, see page 62 in this issue.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; outline: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; outline: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Some
countries that do not make the Travel Warnings list still earn precautionary
notes from the State Department. Visit<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #191815;"> </span></span><em style="font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; color: #191815; padding: 0in;"><a href="http://travel.state.gov/" style="font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; outline: 0px;"><b><span style="color: #004f8d;">http://travel.state.gov</span></b></a></span></em>, click
on “Country Information,” type a country’s name in the search bar and, on the
page that comes up, click on “Safety and Security.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">______________________________________________________________________<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">T<span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">o finish my quest to visit every UN member state, which I finally
did in 2014, I had to visit all of the countries on the Travel Warnings list.
Most of my traveling to those countries took place in the last six years, with
the majority of the trips taking place in 2013.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jeff Carrier
asked travelers to any of these countries how they did it and what their
experiences were. Here are my answers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">First, I
contacted tour operators who advertised in <b><i><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">ITN</span></i></b> who I
had either traveled with in the past or who had been highly recommended by
fellow travelers. I provided them with the list of countries I still needed to
visit and obtained their proposed itineraries.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Second, I asked
each about their experiences with local agents in the countries I wanted to
visit.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Third, I
selected the tour operator who had the longest history with a local agent, that
is, the most trips scheduled between them. This step removed several candidates
who didn’t have close relationships with agents in the countries I wanted to
visit.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> My theory
is that a tour operator and a local agent each will not be willing to risk
ruining their reputation or even their relationship if they, together, aren’t
sure they can arrange a safe visit for a traveler. I want the feeling that the
operator and their local agent are confident they are going to keep me safe.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">• I visited many of the countries on the list with
groups. For example, in 2009 I traveled with Advantage Travel & Tours <i><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">(Poway, CA; 800/882-2098) </span></i>to <b><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">IRAQ</span></b> (Baghdad and the area of ancient Babylon and
into Kurdistan), Jordan<b><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;"> </span></b><i><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">[not on the Travel Warnings
list]</span></i>, <b><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">SYRIA</span></b> and <b><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">LEBANON</span></b>. It was a fantastic experience with great local
guides.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">• Several of the “solo” visits that I made to countries
were arranged by Klaus Billep of Universal Travel System <i><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">(Santa Monica, CA; 310/393-0261, <a href="http://www.uts-travel.com/"><b><span style="color: #004f8d; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">www.uts-travel.com</span></b></a>)</span></i>. In
several of the <b><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">African countries</span></b> he arranged
to have me visit in 2013, I was escorted by Herb Gobbles, a German who is well
known by the locals. Klaus monitored our trip and adjusted our schedule when
fighting broke out in <b><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">MALI</span></b>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">UTS arranged solo trips to <b><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">Eritrea, Central African Republic, Libya, Djibouti, Somalia, Chad</span></b>,
Sinai <i><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">[in Egypt, not on the warning list]</span></i> and other
“safer” destinations. The local guides were fantastic, guiding me away from
trouble spots and arranging private tours of sites like Leptis Magna and
Sabratha (both in Libya) and keeping me safe when fighting broke out in Tripoli
my last night in the country.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The local agents in these countries also had me stay in
nondescript hotels where there weren’t many Westerners, and I rode in unmarked
vehicles with dark windows.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Later in 2013 I started a tour with a UTS group but
deviated to visit <b><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">YEMEN</span></b>. My travel to Yemen’s Socotra
Island was one of the most memorable experiences of my life. The local guide
and driver were great.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">My big surprise
was that the only other tourists I met in Socotra were two young ladies from
Washington, DC, who told me the island was a “dark secret” for female travelers
who worked for US agencies because it was (then) considered very safe and an
interesting place to visit.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">For the record,
I think the State Department’s Travel Warnings are aimed at backpackers who
like to hitchhike around countries without having made reservations in advance.
There are many people who like to travel that way. At 80 years old, I am not
one of them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I was married
in Canada and worked six years for a Canadian company, so, to help ensure my
safety in several of these countries, I wore a Canadian flag pin and in public
talked about my life in Canada rather than stories about the US.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The difficult
part of traveling to these places was obtaining visas. It took me 10 years
before I was able to visit Libya, and then it was only on a work visa. Eritrea
sat on my 2012 request before granting me a visa in 2013. In each case, it was
the local agent’s influence that helped get my visa granted.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">My
recommendation is to visit one of these countries if the trip is arranged by a
tour operator like Advantage Travel & Tours or Universal Travel System. If
the operator doesn’t think it’s safe to travel to a particular place, they
won’t arrange the trip. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And if their local
agent feels he or she can arrange a safe visit, go for it. You will experience
outstanding adventure with privately guided tours of fabulous sites. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">You also will
get more personal interaction with the local people. The result will be a
better understanding of the root cause of the trouble that led a country to be
put on the US State Department’s Travel Warnings list. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In both Eritrea
and Libya, for example, the local guide invited me to his home after the
paid-for tour was finished and talked at great length about the cause of the
trouble in his country, and in each case it was somewhat different than what
had been reported in the media.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">You’ll also
learn that some areas are safer than others. And you’ll see that there is still
normal, day-to-day life for the inhabitants in many parts of the country. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jeff, go for
it!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">Ed
Reynolds<br />
Woodland Hills, CA</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<br /></div>
Edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03034021752003929779noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2230692068076603436.post-92198776295396057662015-09-18T14:18:00.000-07:002015-09-18T14:18:26.251-07:00Sochi, Abkhazia and Trans-Siberian Railway Adventure Journal - July 2015<h1>
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Overview<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
My Sochi, Abkhazia and
Trans-Siberian Railway Adventure were arranged by Cathy and Bob Parda at Advantage
Travel & Tours, Poway, California.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
I was traveling with several of
the same people I had traveled with in the past: Cathy and Bob Parda; Laurie
Campbell; Edna Erspamer and Ed Herrman; Lynn Bishop and Mary Warren; Linda and
Del McCuen; Steve Matthews who I roomed with on my India tour in 2014; Bill
Mason from my Baltic Mosaic tour in 2013.
Traveling with me for the first was Bill Mason’s wife Barbara; Maxine
MacDonald and Ted Von Schoppe who I roomed with on the trip.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The itinerary designed by Cathy
and Bob scheduled us to first visit Sochi, with a tour that included the
Olympic venues; and then the next day take a four hour train ride to Abkhazia
for a tour of the “want-to-be nation” that has broken away from Georgia. She then scheduled us to fly from Sochi to
Vladivostok via Moscow to take the train from East to West with stops along the
way.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
I researched too much for the
trip. First I downloaded the Lonely
Plant “<i>Trans-Siberian Railway</i>” book
and discovered it documented the trip from Moscow to Vladivostok so I printed
out the various segments and reversed them to try to get an understanding of
the trip we were scheduled to take. I
found it a little confusing and it described a lot of places we were not going
to visit. Next I went on line and found
Russian Railway schedules with the time scheduled for each station. That was the detail I found useful but the
station names translated into English did not always agree with the Lonely
Plant names and other sources. Finally I
recorded all the details into a spread sheet, converting the train schedule in
Moscow time to local time (finding the time zone changes was another
investigation) and finally adding the political area which would correspond to
The Most Traveled People and Best Travel club destinations.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
My research in the Lonely Planet,
Wikitravel, Advantage Travel’s tour description and various travelers’ blogs provided
a list of items I should take on the trip; expected meals and caution and
warnings. All this information created anxiety
that I wasn’t packing the right things and I rummaged through my camping items,
visited Walmart and the local sporting goods store to add plastic, plates,
cups, bowls; a sharp knife and eating utensils to add to my luggage.<o:p></o:p></div>
<h1>
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Monday, July 6, 2015 </span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Fly LAX to
Moscow<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
My initial
flight was not scheduled to depart LAX until 16:55. Bob and Cathy had flown to Moscow via LAX the
previous week and had sent out an email telling me that Aeroflot did not assign
seats until check in which did not start until three and one half hours before
departure so I scheduled my car service for 12:05.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
To relieve my trip anxiety I woke
at my usual Monday morning time and attended the weekly “Wings over Wendy’s”
meeting. It was a special meeting in
that Art Sherman the soon to be 93 years old, regular MC let his number two,
Mike LaVare, also a 90 year old run the meeting. I bid farewell to the group that follow my
travels after the meeting and was home by 10:30 and changed into my travel
clothes. When the driver arrived at noon
he was driving a Testla. It was my first
ride in a Testla. The owner driver told
me that he owns it with another driver and they have found it is more
economical to operate than the Chrysler or Lincoln limos the other drivers
use. It was an interesting ride to the airport
but the back seat didn’t have the comfortable passenger configuration that the
limos have. No cup holder, reading light
or center console. The instrument panel
was fun to watch with a large map display and the speed limit displayed next to
the speedometer.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
I was dropped at the Tom Bradley
International Terminal which had recently been remodeled. The line at Aeroflot was not very long but soon
filled up when the counters opened. My
check-in was smooth and I proceeded to the security line which was very
long. There was no “TSA-Pre” line but I
was directed into the First Class line because there was no one in it. As I was queued up snaking back and forth I
came upon Jordy Banner and his father from Sacramento, a close friend of my
son-in-law. I had just been in
Sacramento for Father’s Day and Jordy had left for a trip to Rome only to be
turned back at the airport because his passport would expire in less than six
months. He had to reschedule his trip
while he applied for a new passport, so lo and behold he rescheduled for the
same day I was leaving for my trip. We
exited Security at the same time and decided to eat lunch together. In the lunch area we decided to recharge our
cell phones and I could not find my charger.
I have so many I removed many of them from my carry on to lighten my
load and went too far. I had to purchase
another charger at the terminal electronics store. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
After lunch Jordy and I proceeded
to our different gates. Aeroflot
aircraft was late arriving. We boarded a
few minutes late and I was pleasantly surprised to find no one sitting next to
me. I was seated in an inside aisle on a
row of four seats. On the other end of
the row were two Vietnamese girls from Riverside, CA. We used the empty seat to store our hand
carry. As I pulled out my neck pillow I
discovered that I had brought my cell phone charger all along but it was buried
in a bag underneath my neck pillow. The
Aeroflot B-777 had seat back video and a USB outlet. I was able to charge my phone via the USB
outlet.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The aircraft took off an hour and
thirty minutes late. While I waited for
the meal to be served I watched a couple of comedy movies (Horrible Bosses 2
and Tammy) and read. Once I finished the
meal of fish and rice I put on an eye shade and went to sleep.<o:p></o:p></div>
<h1>
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Tuesday, July 7, 2015 </span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Fly Moscow to
Sochi<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
I was able to
sleep about six hours before breakfast which was more like a lunch with meat
cheese and salad than breakfast food.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We arrived an hour late.
I had less than an hour to make my connection to Sochi so I ran through
the terminal. At Passport Control I
found no line at the transfer visitor desk and I didn’t have to retrieve my bag
and pass through Customs. I did have to
go through Security, but it was quick in the transfer area and when I reached
the gate for my flight to Sochi the passengers were just starting to be
processed. I saw Laurie and joined her
in line. I didn’t see Edna or Ed during
my dash through the terminal. I knew
Edna had requested a wheel chair so they must have taken a different route
through the Transit area. We were bussed
to our plane and I was scheduled to sit in aisle on a row with Ed and
Edna. When I got to the row I young
women was settling in the window seat with a baby in her lap. Across the aisle was a couple in the middle
seat and the aisle. The plane filled and
Ed and Edna were loaded by a cargo truck through the back door. When they got to my row the flight attendant
discovered that the mother and baby were in the wrong window seat and was
reluctant to change to the correct seat so the flight attendant asked me to
move to the other window seat, have the couple move across the aisle so Edna,
Ed and I could sit together. It was all
kind of confusing but we made the moves and settled in for the two hour flight
to Sochi.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
They served a sandwich and gave us a copy of a Russian
newspaper in English. It was interesting
to read what they thought about the Greek situation and the impact it would
have on Russia. The flight only took two
hours and it didn’t take me long to retrieve my bag. I had it loaded on a cart and as I walked to
the exit I pushed open a door and saw Bob Parda standing to my right in front
of another door. He told me I had not
exited the right door but I was out in the lobby anyway. Behind Bob, up against the wall was a young
lady with an Advantage Travel sign. I
was the first out and introduced myself to the guide named Julia. I visited the toilet and then Julia told me I
could exit and proceed to the bus. Bob
was waiting for Del and Linda to arrive on another flight. Bob and Cathy had spent the week touring the
Caucus region of Russia.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As we left the airport the sun was setting and there were
colorful lights on a large Olympic symbol and other welcoming signs. We checked in to the Park Inn by Radisson in
the center of Sochi. I was able to find
an electrical outlet for my CPAP machine and set up my laptop. I skipped going to dinner to set everything
up and went to bed. Ted had gone to
dinner and is in the habit of showering before he goes to bed. I left the light on for him and fell asleep
wearing a sleep mask.<o:p></o:p></div>
<h1>
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Wednesday, July 8, 2015 </span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Tour
Sochi<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
I had set my alarm for 06:30 and
woke up a few minutes before the alarm, took my shower and then Ted and I went
to the hotel breakfast buffet at 07:00.
It had the usual American style buffet breakfast with an omelet cook,
but also had lettuce, tomatoes, fish and Chinese and Russian food.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
At 09:00 we boarded an 18
passenger Mercedes Van to start touring the area. We started riding through the city center
and up a hill to stop at the St. Vladimir Cathedral, built in 2000. It was a beautiful church and typical of Russian
Orthodox churches it had no pews. The
icons were all new and beautifully painted.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
From the church we rode down the
hill to the water front past an area that was once spas for the Soviet leaders
but is now expensive hotels. At the
water front we exited the bus at a fancy sea port Sochi Grand Marina building with
a high tower and high end stores in a building facing the marina that had a
number of large yachts. We had not
exchanged money so Julia led us across the street to a bank. Before we crossed the street a large
procession of people came down the street.
The day was a religious holiday and the procession stopped in the
parking lot next to the bank. By the
time we reached the bank a choir was singing in front of the crowd. I was the first to get my money exchanged and
when I left the bank a number of priests in robes and high hats were addressing
the congregation. Away from the crowd
was a dignitary in a business suit being interviewed in front of a bank of
microphones and TV cameras.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I walked through a park that was in front of the Sochi Grand
Marina building. The park had an
interesting metal structure which looked like it was a dragon style ship with
two Greek gods. Across the street from
the park was the plaza in front of the Sochi Grand Marina building which had a
number of large Greek style statues, most likely sea related.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We then rode to the Sochi Theater and walked through the
park across from the theater parking lot to round structure where we were
provided a cup to drink the unique Sochi mineral water. All visitors to the city are allowed one
drink of the special water.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Back on the bus we rode along the water front and then up to
Sochi National Park and Mt. Akhun. The
bus parked at the top of the mountain in a tourist area where we walked past
vendor stalls to Akhun Tower where a number of us climbed to the top to view
the area. Unfortunately fog and clouds
were moving around so at one point we couldn’t see the base of the tower and
then it would be very clear. It was the
same viewing the surrounding mountains.
It was strange to say the least.
In the plaza below the tower there were two men dressed as the Russian
Bear and Russian Tiger. There were
several horses of various sizes that people and children could ride. The plaza also contained a number carved
structures. The restaurant had tables in
tents open at one end but could be closed to provide a romantic meal.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was noon when we left the National Park plaza to ride
down to the Zimia River to have lunch.
The lunch was at the Owl’s Nest which was a group of enclosed screened huts
for tables to seat groups. But, they set
our group up on a deck overlooking the river rapids.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Above us was the world’s longest pedestrian suspension
bridge. The bridge is part of the AJ
Hackett Sochi Skypark. The
1,800-foot-long bridge was built over a 650 foot chasm and it attracts bungee
jumpers and sightseers alike. In
addition to the suspension bridge there was a zip line between two cliffs on
either side of the river. In the middle
of the bridge was an enclosed area about the size of a rail car. At the south end of the bridge was another similar
enclosure. As we looked up someone
bungee jumped from the enclosure and dropped close to 600 ft and bounced up and
down. Eventually they were pulled back
up to the enclosure. Then we saw someone
jump from the enclosure at the south end.
Julia told us her mother had taken the shorter jump which was 226
ft. We then saw that on the zip line
people didn’t just zip across but they swung back and forth. It was quite a spectacle for lunch.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When the food was served it was initially salads with fresh
tomatoes and greens and cheese bread.
They also served plates of various cheese and then port-ka-bob and a
minced chicken roll. For a side they
served roasted whole small potatoes.
There was more than we could eat and several of the group had the
leftovers boxed up to take back to the hotel for dinner. As we were finishing our lunch two rafts full
of teen age kids ran the rapids near our table, a fitting end to a memorable
lunch.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was after 14:30 when we left the Owl’s Nest for our next
stop. Along the way we passed by the
Olympic ski jump structures along a road that was built just a few years ago to
handle the Olympic traffic, past buildings and settlements that didn’t exist
four years ago. It was mind blowing to
see all the effort Russia did for the Olympics.
We passed the old airport and the new International Airport. Julia told us that when the Departure Terminal
was finished and an Olympic inspection team flew in the Sochi officials had all
government employees including school teachers come to the terminal with
luggage and kids to test how the crowd could be processed. If asked they were to tell the inspectors
they were going to attend a family wedding in Moscow.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We arrived at the Krasnaya Polyana ski venue where a number
of large hotels were built by Marriott, Radisson, Hilton, and Novatel. The area was crowded with tourists and we had
a little trouble finding place for the bus to offload us. The driver stopped semi blocking an exit road
and we quickly got off. It was a
picturesque setting with a broad walkway lined with shops along a river and
hotels on the other side of the river with a bridge across the river. The area was crowded with tourists. I guess Putin’s plan to turn the area into a
long running tourist area after the Olympics was paying off, at least for the
shops. I couldn’t tell if the hotels
were making money.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We boarded gondolas to travel up the mountain. The cars had two seats holding up to eight
people. There were three segments to
reach the top. Between the first two
segments we overlooked the Olympic Village for the skiers. The second segment passed through a cloud
which gave us zero visibility.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At the top at about 7,500 feet, the sky was initially clear
and we could see patches of snow on the mountains. One large patch was near a road leading from
the top building and through my 30x camera lens I could see people throwing
snow balls.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Once we returned the base we boarded the bus and rode to the
Zoo where they had a nice three dimensional map of the area with buttons that
could light various landmarks. On the
walls were pictures of the different animals that inhabit the World Heritage
Site (WHS) Caucasian State Nature Biosphere Reserve (Adygeya). Outside the building were the different
animals fenced in. I was surprised to
see a Bison listed as native to the area and one had his own fenced area. All the descriptions were in both Russian and
English.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The next stop was the Sochi Olympic Park. There we saw a grove of palm trees
transported from Florida and planted the night before the Park was to
open. We walked through the Entrance
Building which then had displays of the venues in the Park and boarded Yamaha
Golf Carts to tour the area. I was
surprised to see the emphasis on automobiles and then learned that they are
hosting a Grand Prix on the grounds. One
of the buildings housed a Tesla display.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We saw the stadium where the Opening and Closing ceremonies
were conducted; the Olympic Torch which was uniquely designed for the
event. It is shaped like the neck of a
swan. We walked around the wall of
champions that flanks two sides of a world globe.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The sun was setting and we were getting tired. The long tour of Sochi had taken over ten
hours. Back at the hotel I washed
underwear and went to bed early.<o:p></o:p></div>
<h1>
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Thursday, July 9, 2015 </span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Tour Abkhazia<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
We had an early wake up for 04:30
departure from the hotel to walk to the train station across the street from
the hotel. The hotel provided box
breakfast for us to eat on the train.
Julia was not licensed to guide us in Abkhazia so a Project Manager from
the Tour Agency named Maxim was going to escort us to Abkhazia where a guide
would meet us.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The train departed at 05:18.
Ted and I were in a compartment with Maxim. Our boxed breakfast turned out to be a ham
and cheese sandwich and a box juice. The
first stop of the train was only two minutes twenty minutes out and then we
stopped for thirty minutes for Russia exit processing. At 06:42 we stopped for an hour to be
processed into Abkhazia.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The route followed the coast so we passed the Sochi Olympic
Park; the airport and a number of beaches.
After the entrance into Abkhazia we had another 30 minute stop and then
reached our destination of Trapa at 09:10.
We were met by our guide: Syzuna.
She was a Syrian who had just emigrated from Syria with her family to
escape the war. She spoke English well
enough for us to understand her but she read from a tour guide book the
information she provided us. For the
most part she sat in silence as we rode to our stops.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The first stop was a gas station for a pit stop. We then proceeded up a mountain to the Church
of St. Simon. It was beautiful gold
domed Orthodox Church. The woman and men
wearing shorts had to wear a skirt which was provided. The woman also had to cover their head while
the men had to remove their hats to enter the church. Inside we saw original frescos and paintings
dating back to the 9<sup>th</sup> or 10<sup>th</sup> century. There were a lot patches but for the most part
it was amazing that so many of the frescos and paintings were in good
condition. During the Soviet era the
church was not destroyed and during the Georgian wars it served as a
hospital. The Georgians dropped a bomb
on the church and it didn’t explode.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After touring the church a group of us walked down the
mountain past the Swan Lake waterfall to the cave entrance building. There Bob discovered that it would not be
possible for a group our size to obtain tickets and the wait for a smaller
group didn’t fit our schedule. The cave
entrance building did provide an excellent point to take pictures of the church
high on the hill.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The bus soon arrived with the rest of our group and we rode
to the Novy Afon Simona Kanoinita Monastery perched high on a mountain. The drive to the monastery was through
beautiful green forests and meadows.
From the monastery we rode to a small restaurant to have a “typical
Abkhazian lunch”. It consisted of a
salad with greens, cucumber, tomatoes and radishes. The main was Russian borscht soup. They served a lime colored sweet drink and
some of us had the local beer.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After lunch we rode to the capital city of Sukhumi, down the
mountain past green fields with cows that wander into the road and don’t move
for the autos. We had to circumnavigate
several stubborn cows along the way.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our first stop in the city was the Botanical Garden. We had a young English speaking guide named
Bekya, lead us through the garden. She
was very thin and would twist her legs in an awkward way giving me the
impression she was not comfortable guiding a group. She appeared to be very knowledgeable and
answered our questions. The center of
the garden had a small stone ringed lily pond and paths led through a shaded
bamboo grove and to a large ancient tree.
We boarded the bus again and toured the city passing the Ministry of
Defense building that was burned during the Sukhumi massacre that took place on
September 27, 1993. We rode by the Evangelical
Lutheran Church and stopped to tour the Monastery of St. John Chrysostom. The Monastery is constructed of brick and its
grounds are surrounded by a brick wall. The
building was now used as a performing arts center and we were ushered into the
church and were treated to a recital of an orchestra and male singer. It was a pleasant surprise for those of us
that had entered the church. The church
had one of the largest organs in the region.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On our way back to the train station we passed by the
ancient Besletskiy Bridge dating from the early Middle-Ages. We boarded the train to Sochi at Trapa, the
same station we had gotten off that morning.
The rain back was similar as the morning run but the sun soon set and we
rode in the dark arriving back at 21:11.<o:p></o:p></div>
<h1>
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Friday, July 10, 2015 </span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Fly Sochi to
Vladivostok via Moscow<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
We were able to get a good night’s
sleep and eat a hearty breakfast before leaving for the airport to board a
11:15 flight to Moscow. The Airbus 321
departed at 11:25 and landed in Moscow at 13:35. We were served a ham and cheese sandwich in
route. We had two and one half hour
layover before our flight to Vladivostok.
Some of the group spent the time in the Sky Mile Lounge, but I sat at
the gate charging my phone and checking email.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
Our long flight (scheduled for
eight hours and ten minutes across seven time zones) was on the big
B-777-300. I was assigned to seat 43C
which was an aisle with limited leg room because of the inflight entertainment
box that took up half the foot space.
Shortly after takeoff at 16:45 I set my watch to Vladivostok time, took
a Melatonin pill and proceeded to sleep for about six hours.<o:p></o:p></div>
<h1>
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Saturday, July 11, 2015 </span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Tour
Vladivostok<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
When our plane approached
Vladivostok we were informed that the runway was covered with fog and we might
have to divert to another airport. I
didn’t know where that would be because if you look at a map you will see that
Vladivostok is at the end of peninsula close to China and North Korea. The nearest large Russian city was Khabarovsk
750km away. It was kind of neat that the
trip map displayed the aircraft flying a large circle.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
I think we only circled once and
then landed actually twenty minutes ahead of schedule at 07:35. The fog had lifted and the sun was shining
brightly as we departed the airport around 09:00 for the city and our hotel,
the Hotel Hyundai. The road from the
airport was a wide six lane divided highway.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
Cathy had arranged for early
check-in and breakfast, so before going to our rooms we went to the restaurant
to eat breakfast before it closed. It
was a typical hotel breakfast buffet found outside the United States: an omelet
chef; tables with fresh salads, fruits, and sushi; scrambled eggs, bacon, and
potatoes in steam bins; coffee, tea and pastries. I had salmon, tomatoes, eggs and bacon,
yogurt and a pastry.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
We finished breakfast by 10:00 and
checked into our room and changed clothes for a tour of the city. The bus left at 11:00. We started down a hill from the hotel on a wide
street facing the ocean with a ferris wheel in the distance. It was a bright sunny day with very few
clouds in the sky but fog on the bay, quite a contrast. The city streets were wide, many one way, and
the cars were late model Japanese, many with right hand drive indicating they
were used cars imported from Japan.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
We stopped at the train station to
tour the museum aspects of it.
Vladivostok is the Eastern end of the Trans-Siberian Railway. It was built from 1891 to 1916 to connect St.
Petersburg and Moscow to open up Siberia and continue to the eastern (Pacific)
coast of Russia. Like the Transcontinental
railroad in the United States, the Trans-Siberian was constructed from both
ends and initially stopped at both sides of Lake Baikal where ferries were used
to shuttle the trains across the lake.
Eventually a route around the southern end of the lake was
constructed. The crossing of the Ob
created the city of Novosibirsk which grew to be the third largest city in
Russia.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
Our guide Natalia led us around
the train station and the platforms where we will board the train the next
day. She described the history of the
railway and led us to the end kilometer marker monument showing 9288 km from
Moscow. A World War II American Lend
Lease locomotive is displayed on the platform near the monument.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
Across the street from the
Railroad station we visited a Supermarket where we purchased provisions for the
train trip. I bought a hunk of cheese
and a piece of ham along with crackers, nuts and fruit.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
We boarded the bus and continued
our tour of the city. The unique
location of the city with its close proximity to Mongolia, China, North Korea
and Japan resulted in large populations from those countries populating the
city. Stalin purged many of the foreign
workers but their cultures can be seen throughout the city and in the faces of
the citizens.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
Along the way we had an excellent
view of the Golden Horn Bridge that links the peninsula with an island south of
the central city. We headed north
passing the Khram Svyatogo Blagovernogo Knyazya Igorya Chernigovskogo church to
the bay side park with the Ferris wheel.
We stopped at the Aquarium and got out of the bus to tour the area. Up a long set of stairs past the Aquarium we
arrived at the Fortress museum for a tour.
Inside the fortress were displays of the history and defense of the area.
Outside was a display of various cannons and a great viewpoint of the harbor
and the Amursky Gulf.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
Our next stop was to tour the
local Saturday’s Farmer’s Market. It was
typical of Farmer’s Markets all over the world, but some of the vegetables like
tomatoes were larger than in many markets I have visited.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
Back on the bus we rode past the
harbor across the town to the Golden Horn Bay Embankment where we stopped at
the Submarine Monument. Next door was
the World War II Triumphal Arch. Several
of us toured the interior of the submarine before boarding the bus again. We continued along the bay past the Orthodox
Church to a point where we walked up to The Eagle’s Nest lookout plaza
overlooking the Golden Horn Bridge and the bay.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Eagle’s Nest had a memorial statue of St. Cyril and St.
Methodius who invented the Cyrillic alphabet in the 9th century. It was a popular place for wedding pictures
and I was fascinated by the couples and their entourage that passed by having
pictures taken. One blond member of a
wedding party had a tattoo in English cursive across her shoulders that read
“Woman are made to be loved”. In the
parking lot full of the wedding party limos one limo had a pair of white “love
birds” in a cage that I guess was used by the professional wedding
photographers.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
This was the last stop on the
tour. Laurie elected to walk back to the
hotel and the rest of us boarded the bus.
We were back in the hotel by 15:00 and free to continue to see the area
or nap before dinner. Bob and Cathy set
out on foot to find a restaurant close by for dinner.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
At 18:30 we met in the lobby to
walk to dinner. They had chosen a
Chinese restaurant up an alley about two blocks from the hotel. Outside the restaurant was a car parked with
a Darth Vader stencil on the door and a plastic replica of an AK-47 on the
radio antenna. I was concerned as to
what kind of restaurant they had selected.
The dinner was delicious and they surprised me with an advanced birthday
party. I was given a local hat in the
shape of a helmet with flaps to cover my ears, made from sheep’s wool, plus a
bottle of vodka which I shared with the group.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
We were back in our hotel room by
22:00 ready to take the last sleep in a bed for a couple of days. It had been a day and one half since we last
slept in a bed so we had no trouble falling asleep despite the time being 15:00
in Moscow.<o:p></o:p></div>
<h1>
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Sunday, July 12, 2015 </span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">On the train
from Vladivostok to Khabarovsk<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
I was awakened at 04:51 by a call
on my cell phone from a Russian number.
I fumbled around and was not able to answer it and roll over and went
back to sleep until my alarm went off at 07:00. I got up and showered and packed. Ted and I went down to breakfast at 08:00 and
then returned to our room to finish packing and lug our bags down to the lobby
a little after 9:30.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When I went to turn in my room key the clerk asked me if I
had used any of the mini-bar items and I realized I had left the bag of goodies
I had purchased the day before in the small refrigerator. I returned to the room, retrieved the bag but
when I returned to the lobby my luggage had already been picked up to take to
the bus so I was unable to pack the items in my luggage. I had consolidated items to just one big bag
and my carry on which I converted to a back pack.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We left the hotel at 10:00 and rode to the station. While Natalia was checking us in Bob wanted
to take a picture of the group wearing the Advantage Travel Trans-Siberian
t-shirts. I had mine on under my regular
shirt and strip of the shirt for the picture.
After the picture taking several of us crossed the road for last minute
shopping in the Super Market. I
purchased a large bottle of water and one of peach flavored Lipton Tea. Then I had two bags of goodies to carry in
addition to my large bag.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It turned out we only had one set of stairs to take to the
train and that was down so with my back pack the big bag (50lbs) in one hand
and the two grocery bags of goodies in the other hand it worked out well
because the grocery bags sort of counter weighed the 50lbs luggage.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We had first-class tickets.
There were two first class passenger cars with nine two-person
compartments in each and a dining/club car.
There was a shower facility in one of the passenger cars and two toilets
in each. Our group of 15 occupied the
car without the shower. Each car had two
Provodnitsas who looked after the car – checked tickets, flagged when we were
all back on at stops, cleaned, controlled the heat, air and windows, etc. Our Provodnitsas were Olga and Ella.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The group was assigned to car 7 with Ted and I in
compartment 15/16. There were only 9
compartments in the coach so we were only one compartment away from the
toilets. Laurie was by herself in the
17/18 compartment and Steve and Maxine in the 13/14 compartment. We settled in with room to store our luggage
under the bed/seat. There was an
electrical outlet under the table between the bed/seats and I was able to plug
in my power strip and set up my laptop (with a cable locked to the table);
CPAP; cell phone charger; and camera battery charger. We flipped the bed up to form a somewhat
comfortable seat/couch to sit in during the day.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Above the seat backrest were shallow storage areas with
spring loaded hinged openings. The springs
were very strong and at one point Laurie had one spring open with such force it
hit her in the face and gave her a fat lip which took several days to heal. I used the storage area to store my food.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In preparing for the trip I had copied the train schedules
from the Russian Train website and printed them out for each pair in our
group. Somewhere before we boarded the
train I lost the copy I had made for Bob and Cathy.<o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br clear="all" style="mso-special-character: line-break; page-break-before: always;" />
</span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In addition I entered the data in an Excel spreadsheet with
more details as follows: (The yellow is where I planned to get off the train to
walk around.) (MT=Moscow Time)<o:p></o:p></div>
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoNormalTable" style="border-collapse: collapse; margin-left: 4.65pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184; width: 678px;">
<tbody>
<tr style="height: 34.5pt; mso-yfti-firstrow: yes; mso-yfti-irow: 0;">
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 34.5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 120.0pt;" width="160">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Station<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 34.5pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: 1.0pt; mso-border-color-alt: windowtext; mso-border-left-alt: .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: .5pt; mso-border-style-alt: solid; mso-border-top-alt: 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 22.4pt;" valign="bottom" width="30">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">MT<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: none; border-top: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 34.5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">DUR of LEG<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 34.5pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Trip<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #FFFF99; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: none; border-top: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 34.5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Local Ar.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 34.5pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">MT Ar.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: none; border-top: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 34.5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Stop<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #FFFF99; border-right: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 34.5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Local Lv.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 34.5pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">MT Lv<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="border-left: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 34.5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.6pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Km from Dep<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-left: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 34.5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 122.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="163">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;"> Political Area<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 11.25pt; mso-yfti-irow: 1;">
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 120.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="160">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Vladivostok<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 22.4pt;" valign="bottom" width="30">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">+7<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #D9D9D9; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">0:00<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td colspan="2" nowrap="" style="background: #D9D9D9; border-right: solid black 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 62.55pt;" width="83">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Train 001<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #92D050; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="42"></td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #FFFF99; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">11:02<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">04:02<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.6pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">0<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 122.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="163">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Primorsky Krai<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 11.25pt; mso-yfti-irow: 2;">
<td nowrap="" style="border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 120.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="160">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Ugolnaya<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 22.4pt;" valign="bottom" width="30">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">+7<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">0:42<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">0:42<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #FFFF99; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">11:44<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">04:44<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">00:02<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #FFFF99; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">11:46<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">04:46<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.6pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">33<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 122.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="163">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Primorsky Krai<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 11.25pt; mso-yfti-irow: 3;">
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 120.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="160">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Ussuriysk<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 22.4pt;" valign="bottom" width="30">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">+7<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">1:17<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">2:01<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">13:03<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">06:03<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">00:15<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">13:18<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">06:18<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.6pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">112<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 122.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="163">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Primorsky Krai<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 11.25pt; mso-yfti-irow: 4;">
<td nowrap="" style="border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 120.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="160">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Sibirtsevo<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 22.4pt;" valign="bottom" width="30">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">+7<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">1:03<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">3:19<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #FFFF99; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">14:21<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">07:21<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">00:02<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #FFFF99; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">14:23<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">07:23<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.6pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">180<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 122.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="163">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Primorsky Krai<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 11.25pt; mso-yfti-irow: 5;">
<td nowrap="" style="border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 120.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="160">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Muchnaya<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 22.4pt;" valign="bottom" width="30">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">+7<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">0:17<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">3:38<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #FFFF99; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">14:40<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">07:40<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">00:01<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #FFFF99; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">14:41<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">07:41<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.6pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">198<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 122.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="163">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Primorsky Krai<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 11.25pt; mso-yfti-irow: 6;">
<td nowrap="" style="border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 120.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="160">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Spassk-Dalny<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 22.4pt;" valign="bottom" width="30">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">+7<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">0:34<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">4:13<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #FFFF99; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">15:15<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">08:15<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">00:03<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #FFFF99; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">15:18<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">08:18<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.6pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">240<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 122.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="163">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Primorsky Krai<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 11.25pt; mso-yfti-irow: 7;">
<td nowrap="" style="border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 120.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="160">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Rujino (Lesozavodsk)<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 22.4pt;" valign="bottom" width="30">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">+7<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">1:27<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">5:43<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #FFFF99; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">16:45<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">09:45<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">00:15<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #FFFF99; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">17:00<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">10:00<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.6pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">358<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 122.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="163">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Primorsky Krai<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 11.25pt; mso-yfti-irow: 8;">
<td nowrap="" style="border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 120.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="160">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Dalnerechensk-1<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 22.4pt;" valign="bottom" width="30">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">+7<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">0:45<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">6:43<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #FFFF99; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">17:45<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">10:45<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">00:02<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #FFFF99; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">17:47<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">10:47<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.6pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">415<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 122.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="163">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Primorsky Krai<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 11.25pt; mso-yfti-irow: 9;">
<td nowrap="" style="border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 120.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="160">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Luchegorsk<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 22.4pt;" valign="bottom" width="30">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">+7<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">0:53<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">7:38<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #FFFF99; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">18:40<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">11:40<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">00:02<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #FFFF99; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">18:42<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">11:42<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.6pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">487<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 122.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="163">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Primorsky Krai<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 11.25pt; mso-yfti-irow: 10;">
<td nowrap="" style="border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 120.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="160">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Bikin<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 22.4pt;" valign="bottom" width="30">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">+7<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">0:38<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">8:18<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #FFFF99; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">19:20<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">12:20<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">00:02<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #FFFF99; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">19:22<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">12:22<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.6pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">534<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 122.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="163">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Khabarovsk Krai<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 11.25pt; mso-yfti-irow: 11;">
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 120.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="160">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Vyazemskaya<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 22.4pt;" valign="bottom" width="30">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">+7<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">1:28<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">9:48<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">20:50<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">13:50<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">00:15<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">21:05<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">14:05<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.6pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">639<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 122.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="163">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Khabarovsk Krai<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 12.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 12;">
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: none; border-top: none; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 120.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="160">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Khabarovsk<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 22.4pt;" valign="bottom" width="30">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">+7<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">1:55<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">11:58<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">23:00<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">16:00<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">00:38<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: none; border-top: none; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">23:38<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">16:38<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.6pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">767<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 122.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="163">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Khabarovsk Krai<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 11.25pt; mso-yfti-irow: 13;">
<td nowrap="" style="border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 120.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="160">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Birobidzhan<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 22.4pt;" valign="bottom" width="30">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">+7<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">2:07<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">14:43<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #FFFF99; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">01:45<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">18:45<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">00:07<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #FFFF99; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">01:52<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">18:52<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.6pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">940<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 122.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="163">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Jewish Autonomous
Oblast<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 12.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 14;">
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 120.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="160">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Obluche<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 22.4pt;" valign="bottom" width="30">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">+7<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">2:43<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">17:33<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">04:35<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">21:35<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">00:15<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">04:50<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">21:50<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.6pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">1100<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 122.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="163">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Jewish Autonomous
Oblast<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 11.25pt; mso-yfti-irow: 15;">
<td nowrap="" style="border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 120.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="160">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Arkhara<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 22.4pt;" valign="bottom" width="30">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">+6<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">1:54<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">19:42<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #FFFF99; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">05:44<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">23:44<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">00:02<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #FFFF99; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">05:46<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">23:46<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.6pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">1210<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 122.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="163">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Amur Oblast<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 11.25pt; mso-yfti-irow: 16;">
<td nowrap="" style="border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 120.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="160">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Bureya<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 22.4pt;" valign="bottom" width="30">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">+6<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">0:44<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">20:28<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #FFFF99; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">06:30<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">00:30<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">00:02<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #FFFF99; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">09:32<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">00:32<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.6pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">1261<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 122.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="163">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Amur Oblast<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 11.25pt; mso-yfti-irow: 17;">
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 120.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="160">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Belogorsk<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 22.4pt;" valign="bottom" width="30">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">+6<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">2:17<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">22:47<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">08:49<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">02:49<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">00:30<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">09:19<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">03:19<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.6pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">1425<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 122.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="163">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Amur Oblast<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 11.25pt; mso-yfti-irow: 18;">
<td nowrap="" style="border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 120.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="160">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Svobodny<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 22.4pt;" valign="bottom" width="30">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">+6<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">0:48<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">24:05<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #FFFF99; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">10:07<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">04:07<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">00:02<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #FFFF99; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">10:09<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">04:09<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.6pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">1483<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 122.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="163">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Amur Oblast<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 11.25pt; mso-yfti-irow: 19;">
<td nowrap="" style="border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 120.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="160">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Ledyanaya<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 22.4pt;" valign="bottom" width="30">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">+6<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">0:32<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">24:39<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #FFFF99; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">10:41<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">04:41<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">00:02<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #FFFF99; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">10:43<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">04:43<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.6pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">1526<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 122.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="163">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Amur Oblast<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 11.25pt; mso-yfti-irow: 20;">
<td nowrap="" style="border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 120.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="160">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Shimanovskaia<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 22.4pt;" valign="bottom" width="30">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">+6<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">0:33<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">25:14<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #FFFF99; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">11:16<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">05:16<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">00:02<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #FFFF99; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">11:18<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">05:18<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.6pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">1567<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 122.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="163">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Amur Oblast<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 11.25pt; mso-yfti-irow: 21;">
<td nowrap="" style="border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 120.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="160">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Tygda<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 22.4pt;" valign="bottom" width="30">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">+6<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">2:07<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">27:23<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #FFFF99; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">13:25<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">07:25<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">00:02<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #FFFF99; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">13:27<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">07:27<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.6pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">1732<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 122.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="163">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Amur Oblast<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 11.25pt; mso-yfti-irow: 22;">
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 120.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="160">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Magdagachi<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 22.4pt;" valign="bottom" width="30">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">+6<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">0:58<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">28:23<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">14:25<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">08:25<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">00:15<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">14:40<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">08:40<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.6pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">1797<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 122.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="163">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Amur Oblast<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 11.25pt; mso-yfti-irow: 23;">
<td nowrap="" style="border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 120.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="160">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Skovorodino<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 22.4pt;" valign="bottom" width="30">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">+6<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">2:50<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">31:28<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #FFFF99; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">17:30<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">11:30<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">00:02<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #FFFF99; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">17:32<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">11:32<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.6pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">1985<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 122.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="163">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Amur Oblast<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 11.25pt; mso-yfti-irow: 24;">
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 120.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="160">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Yerofey Pavlovich<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 22.4pt;" valign="bottom" width="30">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">+6<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">3:34<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">35:04<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">21:06<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">15:06<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">00:21<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">21:27<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">15:27<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.6pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">2179<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 122.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="163">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Amur Oblast<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 12.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 25;">
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: none; border-top: none; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 120.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="160">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Amazar<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 22.4pt;" valign="bottom" width="30">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">+6<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">1:46<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">37:11<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">23:18<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">17:13<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">00:18<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: none; border-top: none; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">23:31<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">17:31<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.6pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">2286<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 122.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="163">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Zabaykalsky Krai<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 11.25pt; mso-yfti-irow: 26;">
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 120.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="160">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Mogocha<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 22.4pt;" valign="bottom" width="30">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">+6<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">1:31<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">39:00<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">01:02<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">19:02<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">00:15<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">01:17<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">19:17<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.6pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">2384<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 122.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="163">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Zabaykalsky Krai<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 11.25pt; mso-yfti-irow: 27;">
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 120.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="160">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Chernyshevsk-Zabaikalsky<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 22.4pt;" valign="bottom" width="30">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">+6<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">5:23<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">44:38<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">06:40<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">00:40<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">00:30<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">07:10<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">01:10<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.6pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">2705<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 122.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="163">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Zabaykalsky Krai<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 11.25pt; mso-yfti-irow: 28;">
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 120.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="160">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Karymskaya<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 22.4pt;" valign="bottom" width="30">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">+6<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">4:49<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">49:57<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">11:59<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">05:59<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">00:18<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">12:17<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">06:17<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.6pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">2998<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 122.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="163">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Zabaykalsky Krai<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 11.25pt; mso-yfti-irow: 29;">
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 120.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="160">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Chita<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 22.4pt;" valign="bottom" width="30">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">+6<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">1:54<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">52:09<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">14:11<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">08:11<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">00:30<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">14:41<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">08:41<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.6pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">3094<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 122.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="163">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Zabaykalsky Krai<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 11.25pt; mso-yfti-irow: 30;">
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 120.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="160">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Khilok<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 22.4pt;" valign="bottom" width="30">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">+6<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">4:30<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">57:09<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">19:11<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">13:11<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">00:15<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">19:26<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">13:26<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.6pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">3358<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 122.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="163">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Zabaykalsky Krai<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 12.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 31;">
<td nowrap="" style="border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 120.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="160">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Petrovsky-Zavod<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 22.4pt;" valign="bottom" width="30">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">+6<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">2:25<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">59:49<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #FFFF99; height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">21:51<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">15:51<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">00:02<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #FFFF99; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">21:53<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">15:53<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.6pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">3508<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 122.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="163">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Zabaykalsky Krai<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 12.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 32; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;">
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: none; border-top: none; height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 120.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="160">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Ulan Ude arr.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 22.4pt;" valign="bottom" width="30">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">+5<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">2:03<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">61:54<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">22:56<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">17:56<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #92D050; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="42"></td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #BFBFBF; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: none; border-top: none; height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #BFBFBF; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.6pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">3651<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.5pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 122.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="163">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Republic of Buryatia<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We left the station at 11:02 local (04:02MT - Moscow Time)
and the first stop was 42 minutes out and then for only two minutes. During that time our Provodnitsas (female
train car attendant) delivered our one meal provide in our ticket. It was in a sandwich size plastic container
with some tea bags, tic-tacs, candy bar and a croissant. I kept the container and Ted’s container to
store my ham and cheese.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The area close to Vladivostok is known as the lake area and
we saw many streams, rivers and lakes as we passed through the area.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I then decided to eat lunch.
It was two hours out before there was a stop where we could exit the
train. We arrived in Ussuriysk at 13:03. I exited the train and walked around the
station to take a picture of Lenin in a park in front of the train station and
pictures of both the front and back of the station before re-boarding the
train.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was three hours and forty five minutes before we were
able to exit the train again. Along the
way we stopped for one or two minutes in several stations but for the most part
we were traveling by flat green fields.
Very few were planted and we saw cows once or twice. We mostly visited each other’s
compartments. I showed a group the video
presentation on “How many countries are there in the world?”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After the Lake District the landscape was covered with
enormous deciduous forests (oak, elm, alder and maple). Soon we were very close to the Chinese border
and the still enormous forests changed to birch, pine and cedar. About 30km either side of Spassk-Dalny, we
were able to make out Lake Khanka, a 4000-sq-km, lotus-covered lake that
straddles the China–Russia border.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I started to write my journal for the first time on the trip,
so I had a lot of catching up to do. At
16:45 we stopped at Rujino for 15 minutes but we were not near the train
station platform so there wasn’t much to see unless we walked around the
train. I chose not to and just spent a
few minutes walking back and forth without taking any pictures.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As we left Rujino we shadowed the Ussuri River until we
crossed the Khor River.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The scenery continued to be flat sometimes swampy green
fields. We saw very few crops and most
trees were small. We did pass through an
area where the fields appeared to be sectioned off with rows of trees equally
spaced to form large plots but there were no crops planted. We speculated that at one time they were
planted.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We proceeded to the dining car at 18:30 to have dinner. I had beef medallion schnitzel with soft
fried potatoes and sliced tomatoes.
Steve, Ted and Laurie were at my table.
Steve had the soup, Ted and Laurie the pork schnitzel. The dining car lady understood a little English
and was a strong bossy female who won’t let us bring any food in from our
compartments, take any pictures or remove any glasses from the dining car. She added 15% tip on everyone’s bill. The dinner with two beers cost me around $18.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The train made a brief stop in Bikin. The line crosses the Bikin River here and
follows it south to the border between Khabarovsky and Primorsky Territories. The southern forests of the 165,900-sq-km
Primorsky Territory are the world’s most northerly monsoon forests and home to
black and brown bears, the rare Amur (Siberian) tiger and the virtually extinct
Amur leopard.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The next long stop was Vyazemskaya at 20:50. The train station was under remodeling and I
was taking some pictures when a lady in a bright orange worker’s vest motioned
for me to follow her into the station where she should me a wall with a large
statue of revolutionary fighters. After
I took a picture she led me to another spot and motioned for me to take a
picture of a white statue in the park in front of the station. When I exited the station I saw Bob and
informed him of the scene and he followed the lady into the station to take a
picture. We had read that taking
pictures of the stations was forbidden and the dining car Provodnitsas had
forbidden us to take pictures so I was surprised and relieved when the local
worker encouraged me to take pictures of her station and the beauty inside
which she appeared to be very proud. I
speculate that the scene was from the famous 1922 civil-war battle. The man who
orchestrated this victory, Marshal Vasily Blyukher, was elevated to hero status
before falling victim to Stalin’s purges in the late 1930s.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We then made up our beds but didn’t remove our shoes for
there was a long (38 minute) stop scheduled for 23:00 at Khabarovsk, the
largest city on the route since Vladivostok and the point where the route
swings west along the northern border of China and Mongolia.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Khabarovsk was founded in 1858 as a military post by Eastern
Siberia’s governor-general, Count Nikolay Muravyov (later Muravyov-Amursky),
during his campaign to take the Amur back from the Manchus. It was named after
the man who got the Russians into trouble with the Manchus in the first place,
17th-century Russian explorer Yerofey Khabarov.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Trans-Siberian Railway arrived from Vladivostok in 1897.
During the Russian Civil War (1920), the town was occupied by Japanese troops.
The final Bolshevik victory in the Far East was at Volochaevka, 45km west.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In 1969, Soviet and Chinese soldiers fought a bloody
hand-to-hand battle over little Damansky Island in the Ussuri River. Since
1984, tensions have eased. Damansky and several other islands have been handed
back to the Chinese.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The train crossed the 2.6km Khabarovsk Bridge over the Amur
River – the longest rail bridge in Russia. The double-decker bridge, built in
the early 1990s to replace one built by the tsar, is on the back of the R5000
note.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I had slept a little and woke when we arrived in Khabarovsk but
was disappointed to find we were not near the platform in front of the station
so I was not able to take pictures of the Khabarov statue in front of the train
station, which resembles the old duma (parliament) building on central ul
Muravyova-Amurskogo. I briefly walked up
and down the platform and returned to our coach.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I removed my shoes and changed into sweat pants, took my
evening pills and went to sleep. The
next long stop was not scheduled until 04:35 at Obluche. <o:p></o:p></div>
<h1>
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Monday, July 13, 2015 </span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">On the train
from Khabarovsk to</span> <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Yerofey Pavlovich <o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
My cell phone woke me ten minutes
before the Obluche station but when we arrived I discovered that again the
train was not stopped near the station platform so I didn’t get up and leave
the train to admire the art-deco train station.
I was able to take a picture of its top from the window but I figured if
I got off I wouldn’t have been able even get that view.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
Bob, Cathy and Laurie did get out
and found they had to walk around the end of the train to reach the station
platform. Our coach was in the middle of
the chain of cars so it was a toss-up which direction to take to walk around
the train. In retrospect I wish I had
joined them.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Obluche was the longest stop in the Jewish Autonomous
Oblast. The Soviet authorities conceived
the idea of a homeland for Jews in the Amur region in the late 1920s and
founded the Jewish Autonomous Region in 1934 with its capital at Birobidzhan
(named for the meeting place of the Bira and Bidzhan Rivers). Most of the Jews
came from Belarus and Ukraine, but also from the US, Argentina and even
Palestine. The Jewish population never rose above 32,000, and dropped to 17,500
by the end of the 1930s, when growing anti-Semitism led to the ban of Yiddish
and synagogues. The Jewish population rose gradually to about 22,000 by 1991, when
Russia’s Jews began immigrating en mass to Israel. The Jewish population is
reported to have levelled off at 3,000 to 4,000.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Following that stop I was fast asleep when we passed into
Amur Oblast and changed time zones. My
cell phone automatically adjusted. I was
asleep when the train spent about two minutes in the 2km Trans-Siberian main
line’s longest tunnel.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Three hours after Obluche when the train made a short stop
at 06:30 (which was 07:30 Vladivostok time) at Bureya, I got up. The arthritis in my right shoulder and neck
was painful from the stiff bed. I found
I still had some pain pills the doctor had given me when the shoulder pain
flared up on the Antarctica Expedition so I took a couple and it appeared to
help.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When I went to the toilet to shave I forgot to bring the
sink stopper I had in my bag but I was able to complete the shave without
nicking myself.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I reconfigured my bed/couch to be a coach, and then started
to drink and eat breakfast. I made a
large cup of coffee with French Vanilla flavoring in lieu of milk and ate a
breakfast bar. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our first stop of the day was 08:49 at Belogorsk. I walked around the station and took a
picture of a silver painted wooden wagon on the road behind the station. A plaque on the base of the wagon indicated that
it dated back to 1860. On the other side
of the wagon was a tree lined paved walkway through a nice park. I returned to the platform to take pictures
of the Lenin statue in front of the station and then bought an Ice Tea in a
small stall next to the station.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After departing Belogorsk the train crossed the Zeya River
over the Trans-Siberian Railway’s second-longest bridge and then stopped briefly
at Svobodny where I took a picture of its piano shaped station.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Around noon I ate a lunch of sardines, cheese and crackers. At 13:25 the train stopped for two minutes at
Tygda which had a monument in front of the station. The monument was in the shape of an oblast
and had a red star near the top and the relief of a fighter with a flag behind
him.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I was surprised at the number of railway depot yards we
passed with long lines of tank cars and very old style coaches, yet we didn’t
stop at a station.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The temperature in the coach continued to vary. When the air conditioning was on it was
pleasant to chilly and when it was off it was very stuffy. There didn’t seem to be a happy median.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our next 15 minute stop was Magdagachi. The Lonely Planet Guide had described a
tree-lined street south of the tracks with a Lenin Statue. We found the stop to be a busy place with
lots of trains, several maintenance buildings and many locomotives. We had to walk across a number of tracks to
get south and all we found was a couple of stalls selling flip flops,
vegetables and a small clothing store but no tree lined street and no statue of
Lenin. When I tried to take pictures of
the area I discovered my camera SD card was full. I realized I hadn’t transferred pictures
since May.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Back on the coach I spent time transferring the
pictures. I then sat down with Laurie
and correlated my pictures of Sochi and Abkhazia with her notes. Our next long stop was not scheduled until 21:06
but the train stopped several times for long periods with no station in
sight. The provodnitsa told us we were
stopped for “highway” repair. I think it
should have been “track” repair but anyway we were behind schedule.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The railroad tracks on that stretch of the line run only
about 30 miles north of the Amur River, which is the border with China. According to the Lonely Planet: “At one time,
strategic sensitivity meant that carriages containing foreigners had their
window blinds fastened down during this stretch.”. I wondered what was strategically sensitive
about the area since we saw a lot trees and sweeping grass pastures out the
window. It might have been movement of
military equipment on the adjutant tracks.
That we did see occasionally on the trip.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ted, Maxine, Laurie and I went to the dining car at
19:30. Ed and Edna were already there
and had ordered the roasted chicken which the waitress recommended. Lynn and Mary joined Ed and Edna. Laurie, Ted
and I ordered the roasted chicken along with Lynn and Mary. Bob, Cathy, Barbara and Steve arrived and
ordered. Soon after they ordered their
food arrived with really ticked off Edna and the rest of us that had ordered
the roasted chicken. It turned out they
had ordered the pork schnitzel.
Eventually our chicken arrived and it was well prepared with sliced
tomatoes and soft fried potatoes.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After dinner we returned to our compartment and Cathy joined
us for the last of the birthday vodka. We
then made up our beds and napped before the next long stop. When we made up the beds we took the
comforter down from a storage shelf over the compartment door to provide more
cushion to sleep on.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The train arrived an hour late at Yerofey Pavlovich. The town is named after the Siberian explorer
Yerofey Pavlovich Khabarov (the remainder of his name went to the big city we
stopped at the night before). The
station building was unique with curving steps up from the platform flanked by
what look like two Lego dragons.
Although the schedule listed the stop as 21 minutes our provodnitsa told
us it would be just ten minutes so we didn’t walk around very long. It turned out it did stop for twenty minutes.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I was asleep when we reached the last scheduled stop of the
day at Amazar so I missed seeing the nearby graveyard of steam
locomotives. <o:p></o:p></div>
<h1>
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Tuesday, July 14, 2015 </span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Arrive in
Udan-Ude, Buryatia<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
It was a strange night. I felt bumps, jerks, and clangs more than I
remember the night before. During the
night I woke at one time cold so I wrapped myself in the comforter to get warm. At 04:11 my cell phone rang once with a call
from area code 714. I didn’t answer
it. It was already light outside. I continued to try to sleep but we were due
to arrive in Chernyshevsk-Zabaikalsky for a thirty minute stop at 06:40 local
but we were running late so I got up to prepare to get off the train. I was in the toilet when we arrived in the
station. I exited the train after
picking up my camera from my compartment.
It was forty minutes late arriving and the Provodnitsas told us it would
only be a ten minute stop.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
We all hustled out to take a picture
of Nikolai Chernyshevsky, whose silver-painted statue was in front of the
station and then through the station to take pictures of some ancient buildings
across the street from the terminal. The
town was named after the 19th-century exile who was exiled by the Czar and
toiled at hard-labor camps in the region for many years. We hustled back to the train to find that it
did stay thirty minutes and left 32 minutes after the scheduled departure time.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
My cell phone time changed during
the night which was a little confusing because the map showed our location staying
in RTZ8 (Russian Time Zone 8) which was UTC+9, but the cell phone auto changed
to “GMT+08:00 Krasnoyarsk Standard Time” whereas the guide book listed
Krasnoyarsk Standard Time as GMT+7. To compound
the problem the train was no longer running on schedule so I started to use Km
markers and Moscow time more frequently.
The terrain varied with green rolling pasture land void of trees until
we cut through some hills and stated to follow the Shilka River.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When we reached Karymskaya which was scheduled for an 18
minute stop at 05:59MT it arrived at 06:20MT and we had to rush to take
pictures of the new church.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our Provodnitsas told us it was going to be just a 10 minute
stop. This time she was right on the
money as it left right at 06:30MT, 13 minutes behind schedule. Our next stop was not scheduled for over an hour
at 08:11MT. It was time for lunch so I
whipped out the fish gutting knife I had purchased for the trip and cut off a
piece of cheese and a piece of ham and along with some crackers and ice tea ate
my lunch.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Technically we were leaving the Russian Far East and entering
Siberia. Geographically, most of the Far
East is considered part of Siberia so there was no noticeable difference in the
terrain. Administratively there is a
distinction between the Russian Far East and Siberia but most people in the
world are not aware of the distinction. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A 12:19 we stopped at Karymskaya and got off to take
pictures of the beautiful Orthodox Church a short walk on the North side of the
station. The railway was following
alongside the Ingoda and Shilka Rivers which provided spectacular scenery.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We arrived at Chita two hours later right on schedule at
08:11MT. Almost the entire group rushed
off the train to take pictures of the large cathedral across the street from
the train station. I took several pictures
and then took pictures of the station and walked back around the station and
bought a cold large peach flavored ice tea.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Chita is where a branch line to Manchuria begins and is a
rather large city with a population of 331,000.
It was founded in 1653, and is the capital of the Chitinskaya Oblast.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After Chita we climbed to the highest point of the railway
(3,412 ft.) at Yablonovaya, where trains pass through a slender gap in the
rock. There is no stop so we had to rely
on the 6130km marker to confirm that we had passed the point. The next stop was Khilok where we got off to
take some pictures of the station’s art-deco features.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was after 19:25 local when we left the station and we
went to the Dining Car for dinner. I had
the pork schnitzel and a beer. There was
only one remaining short stop at Petrovsky-Zavod before leaving the train at
Ulan Ude.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Petrovsky-Zavod is the station for the mildly historic town
of Petrovsk-Zabaikalsky. The station name (and the old name of the town) means
‘Peter’s Factory’, so called for the huge ironworks you may spot from the
train. Decembrists jailed here from 1830 to 1839 are commemorated in a large
mural on the station building.
Unfortunately we didn’t have time to get off the train but I was able to
get some good pictures from the train window. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A few minutes out of Petrovsk-Zabaikalsky we passed a
cemetery to north of the tracks where some Decembrists are buried, and then
passed some quaint log cabin settlements.
The time zone changed as we arrived in Ulan Ude at 23:00 to spend the
night in a hotel. We were met at the
station by a local guide and transferred to the Hotel Baikal Plaza. A four star rated hotel that Putin was
reported to stay at but it had no elevator which made it difficult for several
of our group.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Once we got to our room and unpacked it didn’t take long to
fall asleep.<o:p></o:p></div>
<h1>
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Wednesday, July 15, 2015 </span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Tour
Ivolginskaya Valley and Udan-Ude<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
I woke before Ted and showered and
shaved before we went to breakfast at 07:30.
The dining room was nicely decorated with round tables with white table
cloths and white jackets covering the chairs.
The stairwell next to the stairs had a huge glass chandelier. The steps were marble so I guess if you
ignore the lack of an elevator it could be considered a fancy hotel fit for the
countries’ president to spend a night.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At 09:00 we boarded a small bus for a trip to Ivolginskiy Datsun,
the Buddhist Monastery in the Ivolginskaya Valley. Our guide, Darmia, initially pointed out a
huge statue of Lenin’s head in a square near the hotel. It is reported to be the largest statue of
his head in the world. It was at least
four stories high. She told us that Buryata
is a small Russian republic where a majority of the population is Buddhist. Until the 17th century the area was a part of
the Mongolian Empire. The people here
have their own language, culture and food.
Darmia had Mongolian features and told us she was proud of her heritage.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On the thirty minute ride to the Monastery we passed Soviet
style government buildings, old colorful wooden buildings, tall apartment
buildings, some with colorful paints of dragons on their end, a river, the
airport and outside the city a village of wooden structures. Cows were roaming freely with total disregard
of the traffic on the highway.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Eventually we reached the Ivolginskaya Valley. Is was 23 miles from the city in a once
swampy area. After World War II, Stalin
approved the establishment of a Buddhist spiritual center and Datsan (Buddhist University
and Monastery) for the USSR to be located in Buryata. The local Udan-Ude officials would not
approve of the Datsan being built in the city and allocated the swampy farm
land in the Ivolginskaya Valley as its location. The Datsan was opened in 1945 as the only
Buddhist spiritual center in the USSR.
Eventually the Datsan became the residence of Pandido Khambo lama, the
leader of all Russian Lamas.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was the residence of the Central Spiritual Buddhist Board
of the Soviet Union and later of the Buddhist Traditional Sangha of Russia, as
well as that of Pandido Khambo lama, the head of the Russian Buddhists. The
spiritual activity of the Datsan is manifested in temple rites, medical
practice, and a traditional system of Buddhist education. The Buddhist
university «Dashi Choinkhorling» was opened in 1991 attached to the Datsan.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We crossed over a bridge, past athletic stadium bleachers to
the bus park for the Datsan. The bus
park was ringed with tourist stalls.
Darmia led us on a tour of the Monastery buildings. There were a number of tourist groups on the
grounds. The buildings were elaborately
decorated both inside and outside.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Darmia showed us a picture and told us the story of the 12th
Pandito Hambo Lama of the Ivolginsky Datsan:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>“In
1927, the, 12th Pandito Hambo Lama of the Ivolginsky Datsan Dashi-Dorzho
Itigelov, told his students and fellow monks to bury his body after his death
and to check on it again in 30 years. According
to the story, Itigelov then sat in the lotus position, began chanting the
prayer of death, and died, mid-meditation. The monks followed Itigilov's directions, but
when they exhumed his body 30 years later, they were amazed to find none of the
usual signs of decay and decomposition. On the contrary, Itigilov looked as if he had
been dead only a few hours, rather than three decades. Fearful of the Soviet response to their
"miracle", the monks reburied Itigilov's body in an unmarked grave.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>Itigelov's
story was not forgotten over the years and on September 11, 2002 the body was
finally exhumed and transferred to Ivolginsky Datsan where it was closely
examined by monks and by scientists and pathologists. The official statement was issued about the
body – very well preserved, without any signs of decay, whole muscles and inner
tissue, soft joints and skin. The
interesting thing is that the body was never embalmed or mummified.”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After telling us the story Darmia had a surprise for
us. She disappeared for a few minutes
and returned with a caretaker and key to open the Datsan Museum. It was not generally shown to the public and
she had to turn several of the tour groups away. It was an interesting tour of historical
books, pictures and memorabilia of the Datsan.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That finished our tour and we started back to the city. Along the way we hit a speed bump and Lynn,
who was sitting the rear seat, hit his head on a hand railing causing a gash
that bled profusely. The bus driver
stopped and Darmia rushed across the road to a small store and returned with a
bag of frozen vegetables (they didn’t sell ice cubes) to place on his head to
stop the bleeding.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When we returned to the hotel a representative from the tour
agency met us to take Lynn to the hospital.
Darmia had another toured scheduled for the afternoon and when I asked
her for a recommendation for place to grab a quick lunch she took Ted and I to
a Subway. My tuna subway was different
than the US. There was no mayonnaise in
the tuna and the lettuce looked more like cabbage. The tomato was large and overall it was a
tasty sandwich.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After lunch Ted and I went in different directions to sight
see. He went to the pedestrian mall
where there was a row of tourist stalls and I walked around taking pictures of
the Soviet style buildings. At one point
I came upon a large plaza with a water fountain in the center. It was by the the theater and a statue of two
ballet dancers graced the area.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I returned to my room to call Judy and to check email. Four hours later I took another walk around
the area. Close to the hotel was a World
War II US Army Jeep with Soviet markings and two men dressed in World War II
uniforms. It was an advertisement for a
stage show and they were allowing people to have their pictures taken sitting
in the jeep.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I took some close up pictures of Lenin’s head and crossed
the street to have a beer in the Churchill Pub & Grill. It is one of the unique tourist attractions
in Ulan-Ude: Churchill’s Pub across the street from a large bust of Lenin. The menu in the pub had Churchill’s picture
and below stated:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<b>Winston Churchill<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
was born at the
party<o:p></o:p></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
being a child was
stammered and lisped<o:p></o:p></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
he hated school<o:p></o:p></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
imitated gorilla
perfectly<o:p></o:p></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
has become prime
minister at 35 years old<o:p></o:p></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
been drinking a
bottle of Armenian brandy every day<o:p></o:p></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
always worked<o:p></o:p></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
was ambitious,
brave and selfish<o:p></o:p></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
smoked 15 cigars a
day<o:p></o:p></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
died at the age of
90<o:p></o:p></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
won Nobel prize
for literature<o:p></o:p></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
painted 600 pictures<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I drank a beer and returned to the hotel to meet the group
for dinner. Bob and Cathy had arranged a
typical Buryat diner in a private room in the hotel.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After diner we checked out of the hotel and proceeded to the
train station to board train Number 07 at 23:23 local time (18:23MT) for a
seven hour trip to Irkutsk. The coach
was considerably older that we had on the previous train. The toilet dumped on the track and there was
not outlet under the table in the compartment, but there was one on the wall I
could use for my power strip. As soon as
we settled in we went to sleep.<o:p></o:p></div>
<h1>
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Thursday, July 16, 2015 </span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Arrive
Irkutsk and tour Lake Baikal<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
There was only one stop on the
route and that was for two minutes in Slyudyanka at 03:46. I don’t think I even woke up. We arrived in Irkutsk at 06:24 local and
boarded a bus for the village of Listvyanka on the shore of Lake Baikal. There was not a cloud in the sky when we left
Irkutsk which has been called the “Paris of Siberia”. We saw a little the city as we headed
southeast to the lake passing over a river and past a large shopping mall,
through the woods until we saw the lake.
As we descended into the village and along the shore we encountered fog
which destroyed our view of the eastern shore.
Listvyanka is called the “Baikal Riviera” but with the heavy fog we
didn’t get that impression.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
We checked into the Mayak Hotel
and ate breakfast. The hotel had several
buildings and we were assigned rooms in a building behind the main
building. It had no elevator and the
stairs were on the outside of the first two floors of the five story building
which made it difficult for many members of our group to get to their rooms
much less get their luggage to their rooms.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
After everyone finished breakfast,
found their room, had their luggage delivered and freshened up we boarded the
bus to ride to the Baikal Museum. Our
guide, Ekaterina, led us on a tour of the museum which was a little crowded
with other tour groups.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<i>Lake Baikal, is
the largest body of fresh water in the world and is a World Heritage Site. It is the oldest (25 million years) and
deepest (1,700 m) lake in the world. It
contains 20% of the world's total unfrozen freshwater reserve. Known as the 'Galapagos of Russia', its age
and isolation have produced one of the world's richest and most unusual
freshwater faunas, which is of exceptional value to evolutionary science.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<i>The museum is
one of only three museums in the world dedicated solely to a lake. The Lonely Planet calls it a “sometimes
overly scientific institution which examines the science of Baikal from all
angles”.</i> <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ekaterina did a good job of explaining the attributes of the
lake and details of the displays. The
main attraction for me was the two fresh water nerpa seals which darted back
and forth in a large tank. Since they
have to survive in extreme cold they are fatter than salt water seals. Other tanks contained the fish unique to the
lake.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
From the museum we rode to the Fish Market where we could
see how the lake’s fish were prepared and sold.
Outside the fish market we saw a horse and reindeer with saddles that
tourists could ride. The fog was lifting
and we could see many overweight men, women and children in scanty bathing
suits on the rocky beach and posing for pictures on the docks. Like the seals I guess they have extra
protection for the cold winters.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A twenty minute ride from the fish market took us along the
shore to St Nicholas Church, a small mid-19th-century timber church.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>The
Church of St. Nicholas was built by Russian merchant, Ksenofont Serebryakov. A
legend says that he had nearly drowned during a heavy storm on Lake Baikal and
decided to build a church in honor of St. Nicholas, the patron and defender of
sailors and fishermen.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>The
construction of the church started in 1846 in Nikola village on the bank of the
Angara and was finished after Serebryakov’s death by his wife Natalya.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>The
church was taken from one place to another twice: at first to the lakeside of
the Baikal – to the village of Listvyanka, and then, in 1957, to Krestovaya
Valley, 500 m (1600 ft) from the shore. It was moved away from the shore because
of the construction of the dam in Irkutsk that resulted in a 1m raise in the
water level of the lake.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The church was small but impressive. From the church we rode to the Last Century
Restaurant for lunch. It was a wooden
tourist restaurant. We ate on the second
floor. They served us fish (omul, a
distant relative of salmon that’s delicious when freshly hot-smoked) and
salads. It was delicious. On the outside patio was a goofy board with
two cartoon people rowing a boat with holes cut through the board so people
could take pictures of their friends poking their heads through the holes. I convinced Lynn and Mary and Bob and Cathy
to pose for us.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our next stop was a drive up the mountain to the ski lift at
Cherskiy Peak the highest point of Komarinskiy range.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>The
peak was named in memory of genius scientist Ivan Dementievich Cherskiy
(1845-1892) which made a valuable contribution to the exploration of Siberia,
as well as Baikal Lake. The height of
the peak is 2090 meters above sea level.
It has almost no vegetation and even in summer there is some snow in
some places. On the west side one may
see peaks of Tunkinskiy goltsy (woodless mountains). <o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>The
ascension to Cherskiy rock starts from the weather station along the winding
road of Starokomarinskiy (old Komar) road.
The road was built at the end of the 18th century, it crosses all
Khamar-Daban from north to the south.
More than 100 years ago it was used as one of the caravan roads from
Russia to Mongolia and China. At the
bottom there are deep canyons. In one of
them there is a lake of emerald color called "Heart Lake". The little Mangutaika River starts from this
lake. On the top one may observe
marvelous and unforgettable panoramic views to the grand mountains.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We boarded a chair lift to the top and then walked through
the woods to a lookout point overlooking the lake. On the lift descending I could see the Baikal
astrophysical observatory’s big solar telescope located at the top of the hill
behind Listvyanka. It is the only
telescope of chromospheric type which is intended for sun flash registration
and observing the large-scale structure of solar activity at Baikal Lake.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Laurie and Ed Herrman elected to walk back to the hotel
which we could off in the distance along the shore front. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>The
lake is famous for the trail that circles the lake called the Great Baikal
Trail Inspired largely by the Tahoe Rim Trail (a hiking path encircling Lake
Tahoe in California and Nevada), in summer 2003 a small band of enthusiasts
began work on the first section of what was grandly named the Great Baikal
Trail (GBT; in Russian, Bolshaya Baikalskaya Tropa, BBT). Every summer since
has seen hundreds of volunteers flock to Lake Baikal’s pebbly shores to bring
the GBT organisation’s stated aim – the creation of a 2000km-long network of
trails encircling the whole of Lake Baikal – closer to fruition. This lofty
ambition may still be a far-off dream, but the GBT is nonetheless the first
such trail system in all Russia.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At dinner that night in the hotel Laurie and Ed told us of
the characters they passed on their walk back to the hotel.<o:p></o:p></div>
<h1>
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Friday, July 17, 2015 </span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Tour Irkutsk
area<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
We had a leisurely breakfast and
hotel check out. Getting the bags down
the stairs posed a little bit of a problem for several of us but with the help
of the hotel staff we were able get them all down in time to load the bus for
the trip back to Irkutsk.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On the way out of town we had the bus driver stop briefly at
a war memorial. A large dome in back of
the memorial was built to house a submarine but it was not yet open to the
public. A short distance away we stopped
again at the USSR Pub that had a picture of Barack Obama in the window with a
hookah pipe and waving a Russian flag. I
don’t think the Ukrainian sanctions made President Obama very popular in
Russia.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our next stop was near the mouth of the river that flows out
of the lake. There Ekaterina pointed to
a rock out in the lake and told us it was called the Shaman Stone. She explained its base is covered with coins.
In ancient times, local people believed
the Shaman Stone possessed miraculous powers. It was here that they performed rituals and
sacrifices. It was where they gave oaths
to reveal false accusations or defend their honor: A person suspected of committing a crime was
left overnight on the rock. If he had
not died from the cold or drowned by morning, all accusations were dropped.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We then left the lake and rode through the woods to stop at
the Taltsy Museum of Architecture & Ethnography. Settled through trees off the highway was a
collection of old Siberian buildings.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“<i>The exposition was located in the country
estate of Moskovsky at the end of the 18<sup>th</sup> century. The country estate was taken out from the
village Antonovka of Braksk district of Irkutsk region into the museum.”</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Amid the renovated farmsteads are two chapels, a church, a
watermill, some Evenki graves and the 17th-century Iliminsk Ostrog watchtower. As we were touring the buildings I received a
cell phone call from my daughter, Wendy informing me that Judy had had a
diabetic reaction to low blood sugar and was so disoriented that she fell out
of bed when the phone rang and couldn’t find the kitchen to drink a glass of
juice. Wendy was able to contact our
neighbor who came over and got her to drink some orange juice and get her blood
sugar back to normal. It was very
disturbing and put a damper on the day.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After the tour we continued on to Irkutsk and Ekaterina
showed us a video on the bus TV of the fresh water seals and other creatures
native to the lake. When we reached the
city it had rained and the sky was overcast and the streets wet.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>Irkutsk
was founded in 1661 as a Cossack garrison to extract the fur tax from the
indigenous Buryats, It was the springboard for 18th-century expeditions to the
far north and east, including Alaska – then known as ‘Irkutsk’s American
district’.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>As
Eastern Siberia’s trading and administrative center, Irkutsk dispatched
Siberian furs and ivory to Mongolia, Tibet and China in exchange for silk and
tea. Constructed mostly of local timber,
three quarters of the city burnt down in the disastrous blaze of 1879. However, profits from the 1880s Lena Basin
gold rush swiftly rebuilt the city’s most important edifices in brick and
stone.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>Known
as the ‘Paris of Siberia’, Irkutsk did not welcome news of the October
Revolution. The city’s well-to-do
merchants only succumbed to the Red tide in 1920, with the capture and
execution of White Army commander Admiral Kolchak, whose controversial statue
was re-erected in 2004. Soviet-era
planning saw Irkutsk develop as the sprawling industrial and scientific center
that it remains today.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We stopped at the London Pub for lunch. I had a salad. After lunch we toured the city. There was a number of churches that survived
the Soviet destruction that we did a walking tour around. The weather had improved and we saw wedding
parties posing for pictures near the monuments and statues along the river
front.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One of the impressive churches was the Church of Our Savior
built in the early 1700’s and believed to be the oldest stone building in
Eastern Siberia. It was restored in 2006
and returned to its congregation.
Another church we visited was The Epiphany Cathedral which was initially
a wooden structure built in 1693 but was burned down in 1716. In 1718 it was rebuilt as a stone
cathedral. The Soviets closed it in 1934
and it wasn’t returned to the diocese until 1994. We were allowed to take pictures of its
beautiful interior.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
From the church area we boarded the bus again and toured
other areas of the city, stopping at the University and then at the Monument to
Emperor Alexander III in honor of his contribution and support for the
construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway.
In 1920 the monument was dismantled by the Soviet leaders and was not
replaced until 2003 in celebration of the 100<sup>th</sup> anniversary of the
completion of the railway.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Continuing on our tour we stopped at the 130<sup>th</sup>
Quarter (or 130 Kvartal), a street of historical buildings refurbished to hold
restaurants, pubs and shops. They were
very colorfully decorated and painted.
At the west entrance to the area was the striking bronze monument 'Babr
with sable in its mouth' erected in 2013.
It is a bronze black Siberian tiger with scarlet eyes, holding in its
mouth a scarlet sable represented as the current coat of arms of Irkutsk. The originators of the monument were sculptor
Natalia Bakut and architect Olga Smirnova.
It was very large and impressive with many people having their pictures
taken around it.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That completed our tour of the city and we boarded the bus
again to finally reach the Courtyard by Marriott Hotel where we had diner and
spent the night<o:p></o:p></div>
<h1>
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Saturday, July 18, 2015 </span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Train
Irkutsk to Novosibirsk<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
It was a short night with an early
morning wake up to board the bus for the train station and the 06:47 local
departure on Train 07 to Novosibirsk.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The schedule for that leg of the trip was as follows:<o:p></o:p></div>
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoNormalTable" style="border-collapse: collapse; margin-left: 4.65pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-table-layout-alt: fixed; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184; width: 595px;">
<tbody>
<tr style="height: 34.5pt; mso-yfti-firstrow: yes; mso-yfti-irow: 0;">
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 34.5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 102.15pt;" width="136">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Station<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 34.5pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: 1.0pt; mso-border-color-alt: windowtext; mso-border-left-alt: .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: .5pt; mso-border-style-alt: solid; mso-border-top-alt: 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 24.6pt;" valign="bottom" width="33">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">MT<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: none; border-top: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 34.5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.5pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">DUR of LEG<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 34.5pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.5pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Trip<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #FFFF99; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: none; border-top: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 34.5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: .5in;" valign="bottom" width="48">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Local Ar.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 34.5pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.5pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">MT Ar.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: none; border-top: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 34.5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: .5in;" valign="bottom" width="48">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Stop<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #FFFF99; border-right: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 34.5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: .5in;" valign="bottom" width="48">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Local Lv.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 34.5pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.5pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">MT Lv<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-left: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 34.5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 85.2pt;" valign="bottom" width="114">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;"> Administrative
Area<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 11.25pt; mso-yfti-irow: 1;">
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 102.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="136">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Irkutsk dep.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 24.6pt;" valign="bottom" width="33">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">+5<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #D9D9D9; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.5pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
</td>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">0:00<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td colspan="2" nowrap="" style="background: #D9D9D9; border-right: solid black 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 67.5pt;" valign="bottom" width="90">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Train 007<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #92D050; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: .5in;" valign="bottom" width="48">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">18-Jul<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #FFFF99; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: .5in;" valign="bottom" width="48">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">06:47<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.5pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">01:47<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 85.2pt;" valign="bottom" width="114">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Irkutsk Oblast<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 11.25pt; mso-yfti-irow: 2;">
<td nowrap="" style="border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 102.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="136">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Irkutsk-Sortirovochnyi<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 24.6pt;" valign="bottom" width="33">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">+5<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.5pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">0:13<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.5pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">0:13<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #FFFF99; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: .5in;" valign="bottom" width="48">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">07:00<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.5pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">02:00<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: .5in;" valign="bottom" width="48">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">00:02<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #FFFF99; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: .5in;" valign="bottom" width="48">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">07:02<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.5pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">02:02<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 85.2pt;" valign="bottom" width="114">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Irkutsk Oblast<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 11.25pt; mso-yfti-irow: 3;">
<td nowrap="" style="border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 102.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="136">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Angarsk<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 24.6pt;" valign="bottom" width="33">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">+5<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.5pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">0:41<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.5pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">0:56<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #FFFF99; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: .5in;" valign="bottom" width="48">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">07:43<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.5pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">02:43<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: .5in;" valign="bottom" width="48">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">00:03<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #FFFF99; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: .5in;" valign="bottom" width="48">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">07:46<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.5pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">02:46<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 85.2pt;" valign="bottom" width="114">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Irkutsk Oblast<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 11.25pt; mso-yfti-irow: 4;">
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 102.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="136">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Zima<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 24.6pt;" valign="bottom" width="33">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">+5<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.5pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">3:13<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.5pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">4:12<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: .5in;" valign="bottom" width="48">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">10:59<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.5pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">05:59<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: .5in;" valign="bottom" width="48">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">00:30<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: .5in;" valign="bottom" width="48">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">11:29<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.5pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">06:29<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 85.2pt;" valign="bottom" width="114">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Irkutsk Oblast<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 11.25pt; mso-yfti-irow: 5;">
<td nowrap="" style="border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 102.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="136">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Tulun<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 24.6pt;" valign="bottom" width="33">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">+5<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.5pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">1:53<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.5pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">6:35<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #FFFF99; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: .5in;" valign="bottom" width="48">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">13:22<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.5pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">08:22<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: .5in;" valign="bottom" width="48">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">00:02<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #FFFF99; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: .5in;" valign="bottom" width="48">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">13:24<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.5pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">08:24<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 85.2pt;" valign="bottom" width="114">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Irkutsk Oblast<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 11.25pt; mso-yfti-irow: 6;">
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 102.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="136">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Nizhneudinsk<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 24.6pt;" valign="bottom" width="33">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">+5<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.5pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">1:36<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.5pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">8:13<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: .5in;" valign="bottom" width="48">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">15:00<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.5pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">10:00<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: .5in;" valign="bottom" width="48">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">00:13<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: .5in;" valign="bottom" width="48">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">15:13<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.5pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">10:13<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 85.2pt;" valign="bottom" width="114">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Irkutsk Oblast<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 11.25pt; mso-yfti-irow: 7;">
<td nowrap="" style="border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 102.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="136">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Tayshet<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 24.6pt;" valign="bottom" width="33">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">+5<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.5pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">2:27<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.5pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">10:53<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #FFFF99; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: .5in;" valign="bottom" width="48">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">17:40<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.5pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">12:40<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: .5in;" valign="bottom" width="48">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">00:01<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #FFFF99; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: .5in;" valign="bottom" width="48">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">17:41<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.5pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">12:41<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 85.2pt;" valign="bottom" width="114">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Irkutsk Oblast<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 12.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 8;">
<td nowrap="" style="border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 102.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="136">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Reshoty<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 24.6pt;" valign="bottom" width="33">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">+5<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.5pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">0:59<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.5pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">11:53<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #FFFF99; height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: .5in;" valign="bottom" width="48">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">18:40<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.5pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">13:40<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: .5in;" valign="bottom" width="48">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">00:01<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #FFFF99; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: .5in;" valign="bottom" width="48">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">18:41<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.5pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">13:41<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 85.2pt;" valign="bottom" width="114">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Krasnoyarsk Krai<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 11.25pt; mso-yfti-irow: 9;">
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 102.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="136">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Ilanskaya (for
Ilansky)<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 24.6pt;" valign="bottom" width="33">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">+4<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.5pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">1:09<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.5pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">13:03<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: .5in;" valign="bottom" width="48">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">18:50<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.5pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">14:50<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: .5in;" valign="bottom" width="48">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">00:22<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: .5in;" valign="bottom" width="48">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">19:12<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.5pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">15:12<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 85.2pt;" valign="bottom" width="114">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Krasnoyarsk Krai<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 11.25pt; mso-yfti-irow: 10;">
<td nowrap="" style="border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 102.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="136">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Kansk-Yeniseysky<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 24.6pt;" valign="bottom" width="33">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">+4<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.5pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">0:27<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.5pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">13:52<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #FFFF99; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: .5in;" valign="bottom" width="48">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">19:39<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.5pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">15:39<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: .5in;" valign="bottom" width="48">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">00:01<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #FFFF99; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: .5in;" valign="bottom" width="48">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">19:40<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.5pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">15:40<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 85.2pt;" valign="bottom" width="114">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Krasnoyarsk Krai<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 12.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 11;">
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: none; border-top: none; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 102.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="136">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Krasnoyarsk<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 24.6pt;" valign="bottom" width="33">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">+4<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.5pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">3:28<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.5pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">17:21<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: .5in;" valign="bottom" width="48">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">23:08<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.5pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">19:08<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: .5in;" valign="bottom" width="48">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">00:22<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: none; border-top: none; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: .5in;" valign="bottom" width="48">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">23:30<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.5pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">19:30<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 85.2pt;" valign="bottom" width="114">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Krasnoyarsk Krai<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 11.25pt; mso-yfti-irow: 12;">
<td nowrap="" style="border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 102.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="136">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Achinsk-1<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 24.6pt;" valign="bottom" width="33">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">+4<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.5pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">2:49<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.5pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">20:32<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #FFFF99; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: .5in;" valign="bottom" width="48">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">02:19<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.5pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">22:19<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: .5in;" valign="bottom" width="48">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">00:01<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #FFFF99; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: .5in;" valign="bottom" width="48">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">02:20<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.5pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">22:20<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 85.2pt;" valign="bottom" width="114">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Krasnoyarsk Krai<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 12.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 13;">
<td nowrap="" style="border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 102.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="136">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Bogotol<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 24.6pt;" valign="bottom" width="33">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">+4<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.5pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">0:59<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.5pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">21:32<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #FFFF99; height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: .5in;" valign="bottom" width="48">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">03:19<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.5pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">23:19<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: .5in;" valign="bottom" width="48">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">00:01<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #FFFF99; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: .5in;" valign="bottom" width="48">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">03:20<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.5pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">23:20<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 85.2pt;" valign="bottom" width="114">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Krasnoyarsk Krai<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 11.25pt; mso-yfti-irow: 14;">
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 102.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="136">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Mariinsk<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 24.6pt;" valign="bottom" width="33">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">+3<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.5pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">1:50<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.5pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">23:23<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: .5in;" valign="bottom" width="48">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">04:10<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.5pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">01:10<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: .5in;" valign="bottom" width="48">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">00:26<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: .5in;" valign="bottom" width="48">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">04:36<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.5pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">01:36<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 85.2pt;" valign="bottom" width="114">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Kemerovo Oblast<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 12.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 15;">
<td nowrap="" style="border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 102.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="136">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Taiga<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 24.6pt;" valign="bottom" width="33">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">+3<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.5pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">1:58<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.5pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">25:47<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #FFFF99; height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: .5in;" valign="bottom" width="48">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">06:34<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.5pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">03:34<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: .5in;" valign="bottom" width="48">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">00:03<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #FFFF99; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: .5in;" valign="bottom" width="48">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">06:37<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.5pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">03:37<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 85.2pt;" valign="bottom" width="114">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Kemerovo Oblast<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 12.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 16; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;">
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: none; border-top: none; height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 102.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="136">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Novosibirsk arr.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 24.6pt;" valign="bottom" width="33">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">+3<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.5pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">3:08<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.5pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">28:58<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: .5in;" valign="bottom" width="48">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">09:45<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.5pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">06:45<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #92D050; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: .5in;" valign="bottom" width="48">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">19-Jul<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #D9D9D9; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: none; border-top: none; height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: .5in;" valign="bottom" width="48">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #D9D9D9; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.5pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 85.2pt;" valign="bottom" width="114">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Novosibirsk Oblast<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was the same old style coach as we had on the last
leg. This time there was no electrical
outlet in the compartment but fortunately there was one directly across the
hall. I plugged in an extension cord and
ran it under the hall rug to my compartment.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ted and Laurie were cross checking their copies of the
Lonely Planet with the km markers along the tracks to be alert for scenes to
take pictures of or at least to note. It
was slightly confusing since the Lonely Plant listed them in order from Moscow
and occasionally we got confused of the order and passed the point before we
had out cameras ready to take a picture.
The Lonely Planet and Bob and Cathy’s description said we were traveling
along the most beautiful part of the route.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our first long (30 minutes) stop was at Zima at 10:59
local. There were a number of stalls
selling food and tourist items set up next to the station. Many of the passengers from the 2<sup>nd</sup>
Class coach were smokers and they were browsing the stalls smoking and
purchasing food for their lunch.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I was fascinated by a large round building which I later
learned was an old water tower. There
was also an electric locomotive on display.
Here to fore stations had World War II American Lend Lease steam
locomotives on display so this was the first electric one I had seen.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Inside the station there were also a number of concession
stands which was a contrast from most of the stations I have toured during the
trip. On the city side of the station
was a park and I ran into Cathy and Bob who had strolled down the path in the
middle of the park to see more of the city.
It was a nice 24°C (75°F) outside which was a lot cooler than the 37°C
(100°F) temperatures we had been experiencing on the other legs. Siberia is known for its harsh cold winters
but not very well known for its short very hot summers.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Leaving Zima we went to the dining car to eat our assigned 1<sup>st</sup>
Class meal. We were given soup and bread
with a cardboard container of juice. The
scenery was beautiful with vast fields of purple flowers as we rode on to our
next stop at Nizhneudinsk. Cossacks first built a small fortress there in 1649
and for more than two centuries the town served as an important center for gold
and fur traders.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The station had a more modern look, more like an airport
terminal with a curved roof that most of the other Baroque style of so many of
the other stations. On the city side was
a very large asphalt plaza and then modern red brick buildings that looked like
it could be a school. The locomotive on
display in the park was back to the World War II Lend Lease steam engine. It struck me that in every case of a monument
or display along the route they were well maintained and appeared to be freshly
painted.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Moving on to the next stop at Ilanskaya, we pass km marker
4644km which was the halfway point between Vladivostok and Moscow. We made a one minute stop at Tayshet which
was the infamous transit point for Gulag camp prisoners and is mentioned in
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s The Gulag Archipelago.
An hour later the train made another one minute stop at Reshoty where I
was able to take a picture of a gold bust of Lenin.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The railroad side of the Ilanskaya train station could have
used a coat of paint, inside there was a large map of the Russian railroad
system on a marble wall. Near the station
were five story barracks like apartments and some one story very old wooden
buildings but the stuning sight was a monument to an uprising in December of
1928. Behind the monument was a double
brick water tower and a wall of bas relief set of six panels with scenes I
speculated were of the uprising. I used
my cell phone ‘Word Lens’ app to translate the description plaques. There was also a well maintained steam
locomotive on display.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When we started up again I broke out my knife and cut up
some of my cheese and ham and along with some crackers ate my dinner in the
compartment. The sun had set so we slept
until Krasnoyarsk where we stopped for 22 minutes. Our train’s platform was a middle platform
with freight trains stopped on either side.
I took some pictures from the window but didn’t think it was worth the
effort to climb the stairs to walk to the station. So I went back to sleep.<o:p></o:p></div>
<h1>
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Sunday, July 19, 2015 </span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Arrive in Novosibirsk<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
When I woke up we were on a brief
three minute stop at Taiga. I took some
pictures of its usually styled train station, long and low with many windows
facing the tracks. I had more of my ham
and cheese for breakfast.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
We stopped in Novosibirsk which
was the third largest city in Russia and of course had a very large train
station which required that we descend stairs from the platform and walk
through a tunnel under the tracks and then exit into a large parking area below
street level. It took a little time for
everyone to get to the bus with our luggage.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our guide Ogla, commentated on the city sites as we rode to
our hotel, the Double Tree by Hilton.
The dining room was still open for breakfast so I had a yogurt and a
piece of salmon. After the short meal I
checked into my room, unpacked and refreshed.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There was no tour scheduled for the day so I struck out on
my own to tour the city. The hotel was a
short walk to a park that was adorned with modern paintings, sculptures and
statues. A short distance away was a
sphere building with an Origami sign on one side. I thought it might be a museum so I walked
back to the hotel to inform Steve who is a master of making Origami figures.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I then returned and walked up to a major intersection where
a small chapel stands that Ogla told us used to be the geographical center of
the USSR. There was an underground
tunnel under the intersection that allowed pedestrians to cross the streets and
to also get to the chapel. In the tunnel
was a maze of small shops selling everything under the sun: clothes, snacks,
electronics, etc.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I wound my way through the passages and came up in Pervomayskiy
square. There I watched little kids
wading in a large fountain. In the plaza
by the fountain was a horse drawn carriage like you see in New York’s Central
Park. It was decorated for a wedding
party that must have been among the trees in the square having pictures taken
by monuments. To the right of the main
path into the trees someone had set up a beautiful display of colorful silk
flowers about three feet in diameter. A
beautiful blond was having her picture taken in the display.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I walked along past a building for New York Pizza and took
pictures of more sculptures. I crossed
the street again through the tunnel and walked up to the famous Novosibirsk
Opera and Ballet House, an impressive building.
In the plaza in front of the building is Lenin’s Square with three
massive monuments: Lenin, a trio of armed peasants on his right side and a
young couple on his left side. Behind
the statues was a long flower bed leading to the steps of the Opera House.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In back of the Opera House was a monument and wall plaques honoring
the battles of 1920 and a small park with individual busts of historical
heroes. From the park I walked back
toward the hotel and passed a beautiful red brick church.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I spent the afternoon catching up on email. Bob and Cathy had scouted the area for a good
place to have dinner near the hotel.
Again they made an excellent choice and we had a meal of soup, salads,
cold and hot meats with sauces and garnishments to flavor the meat.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was after 20:30 when we returned to the hotel to get a
good night’s sleep in a bed.<o:p></o:p></div>
<h1>
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Monday, July 20, 2015 </span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Tour
Akademgorodok<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
We woke at 06:30 and ate at the
hotel breakfast buffet. The only
different from the day before was the addition of scrambled eggs so we didn’t
have the long queue to get an egg custom made.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
We met Ogla in the lobby at 10:00 and
boarded a bus for the day’s tour. We
rode past the Art Museum and stopped at the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, an imposing,
gilded Orthodox cathedral built in Byzantine style in 1899 by Alexander the
Great. A cathedral since 1915, it was
closed by Stalin in 1937, re-opening in the glasnost era in 1989. There were several attempts to blow up the
building by the Soviets, all of which failed - though the beautiful bell tower
and some of the inside walls were destroyed.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our next stop was the Bridge Monument with a large statue of
Alexander III and a span of the original bridge across the Ob. Novosibirsk grew up in the 1890s around the
Ob River Bridge built for the Trans-Siberian Railway. The original plan was to have the railroad
cross the Ob at Tomsk but the river was to wide and the ground unstable so a
better spot was selected at Novo-Nikolaevsk and as a result the city who’s
named changed in 1925 to Novosibirsk, grew into the third largest city in
Russia. The monuments and adjacent
museum celebrate that fact.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We then took a twenty five minute ride out of the city to Akademgorodok,
the educational and scientific center of Siberia, sometimes called the
"Scientific Vatican."
Akademgorodok is a city built entirely for scientists and their families
and is well known throughout the international scientific community.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>The
town was founded in the end of 1950s under the auspices of the Academy of
Sciences of the USSR. Academician
Mikhail Alexeyevich Lavrentyev, a mechanician and mathematician, the first
Chairman of the Siberian Division of the Soviet Academy of Sciences, played a
prominent role in establishing Akademgorodok.
At its peak, Akademgorodok was home to 65,000 scientists and their
families, and was a privileged area to live in.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>During
the Soviet period (1961–1991), due to the peculiarity of the Soviet economic
system, monetary rewards did not always translate into a higher standard of
living. To offset this, a special
compensation system was devised in Akademgorodok for its residents and leading
scientists. For example, residents of
Akademgorodok had access to special food ration distribution outlets that provided
most of the time, an access to some basic subsidized foodstuffs, which were not
always easily obtainable elsewhere. Some
of the scientists, despite being eligible, refused it on moral grounds. Full and corresponding members of the Academy
of Sciences had access to still higher level of service and were eligible to live
in single family residences, considered luxurious by Soviet standards, as most
of the population lived in apartments situated in nine- and four-story
multi-apartment buildings.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We stopped and were given a guided tour of one of the
research labs and then rode by some of the fancy residences. We stopped a short distance from Mikhail
Alexeyevich Lavrentyev’s house and were shown the yard where he used to hold
scientific discussions and meetings on the grass under the trees.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The next stop was the main reception building where
worldwide scientific conferences are held.
There we were treated to a special lunch in the dining room used by
dignitaries that attend conferences in the center. It was very fancy with white linin napkins
and fine silverware.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After lunch we returned to the city driving past the
university a square red church and stopped at the Train Museum. It was small but it had interesting displays
on the history of the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway. The next stop was a Farmer’s Market that had
interesting honey for sale.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Back in the bus we rode to the Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet
Theater. Unfortunately the theater was
closed and we could not tour the inside.
The building was completed in February 1944, and the first performance
was held on 12 May 1945. It is the
largest theatre in Russia, larger than the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. After its renovation in 2005 with computerized
stage equipment, it became the most technically advanced in Russia. The theatre is often called the "Siberian
Coliseum" because of its size and beauty. The auditorium seats more than 1,790
spectators. Its upper gallery is
decorated with copies of antique Greek statues.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ogla told us about the construction and the decision to
build such a large theater in Siberia.
Across the street was a strange mechanical seat that we all had our
pictures taken sitting in. It looked
like it was designed and built by Rube Goldberg.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our next stop was a colorful funky restaurant not far from
the pretty little Chapel of St Nicholas which was said to mark the geographical
center of Russia when it was built in 1915.
Demolished in the 1930s, it was rebuilt in 1993 for Novosibirsk’s
centenary. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Next to the restaurant was one of the old wooden buildings
that Ogla wanted to show us. She
especially pointed out the detailed wood lattice that was attached to the
eves. She also drove us by brick
buildings that had similar detailed wood lattice attached to their eves and
around their windows.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was after 18:00 when the tour finished. It had been an eventful day and it was good
to get another night’s sleep in a comfortable bed.<o:p></o:p></div>
<h1>
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Tuesday, July 21, 2015 </span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Train
Novosibirsk to Yetaterinburg<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
We woke at 06:00 and had breakfast
in the hotel dining room, returned to our room, packed and checked out of the
hotel at 08:50 for a fifteen minute ride to the train station. We had to pass under the tracks and upstairs
to get to our train’s platform.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
This time we were taking Train
number 55 to Yekaterinburg that departed 09:50 local time.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The following is the schedule for the leg to Yekaterinberg.<o:p></o:p></div>
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoNormalTable" style="border-collapse: collapse; margin-left: 4.65pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184; width: 627px;">
<tbody>
<tr style="height: 34.5pt; mso-yfti-firstrow: yes; mso-yfti-irow: 0;">
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 34.5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 84.2pt;" width="112">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Station<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 34.5pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: 1.0pt; mso-border-color-alt: windowtext; mso-border-left-alt: .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: .5pt; mso-border-style-alt: solid; mso-border-top-alt: 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 22.4pt;" valign="bottom" width="30">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">MT<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: none; border-top: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 34.5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">DUR of LEG<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 34.5pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Trip<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #FFFF99; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: none; border-top: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 34.5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Local Ar.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 34.5pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">MT Ar.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: none; border-top: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 34.5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 38.4pt;" valign="bottom" width="51">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Stop<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #FFFF99; border-right: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 34.5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Local Lv.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 34.5pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">MT Lv<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="border-left: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 34.5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.6pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Km from Dep<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-left: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 34.5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 112.1pt;" valign="bottom" width="149">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Administrative Area<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 11.25pt; mso-yfti-irow: 1;">
<td nowrap="" style="border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 84.2pt;" valign="bottom" width="112">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Novosibirsk dep.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 22.4pt;" valign="bottom" width="30">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">+3<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #D9D9D9; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">0:00<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td colspan="2" nowrap="" style="background: #D9D9D9; border-right: solid black 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 62.55pt;" valign="bottom" width="83">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Train 55<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #92D050; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 38.4pt;" valign="bottom" width="51">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">21-Jul<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #FFFF99; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">09:50<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">06:50<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.6pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">0<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 112.1pt;" valign="bottom" width="149">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Novosibirsk Oblast<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 11.25pt; mso-yfti-irow: 2;">
<td nowrap="" style="border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 84.2pt;" valign="bottom" width="112">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Chulymskaia<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 22.4pt;" valign="bottom" width="30">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">+3<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">1:29<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">1:29<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #FFFF99; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">11:19<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">08:19<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 38.4pt;" valign="bottom" width="51">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">00:02<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #FFFF99; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">11:21<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">08:21<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.6pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">132<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 112.1pt;" valign="bottom" width="149">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Novosibirsk Oblast<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 11.25pt; mso-yfti-irow: 3;">
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 84.2pt;" valign="bottom" width="112">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Barabinsk<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 22.4pt;" valign="bottom" width="30">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">+3<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">1:44<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">3:15<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">13:05<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">10:05<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 38.4pt;" valign="bottom" width="51">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">00:23<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">13:28<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">10:28<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.6pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">303<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 112.1pt;" valign="bottom" width="149">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Novosibirsk Oblast<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 11.25pt; mso-yfti-irow: 4;">
<td nowrap="" style="border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 84.2pt;" valign="bottom" width="112">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Tatarskaia<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 22.4pt;" valign="bottom" width="30">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">+3<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">1:35<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">5:13<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #FFFF99; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">15:03<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">12:03<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 38.4pt;" valign="bottom" width="51">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">00:02<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #FFFF99; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">15:05<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">12:05<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.6pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">458<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 112.1pt;" valign="bottom" width="149">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Novosibirsk Oblast<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 11.25pt; mso-yfti-irow: 5;">
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 84.2pt;" valign="top" width="112">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Omsk<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 22.4pt;" valign="top" width="30">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">+3<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">2:01<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">7:16<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">17:06<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">14:06<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 38.4pt;" valign="bottom" width="51">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">00:38<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">17:44<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">14:44<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.6pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">627<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 112.1pt;" valign="bottom" width="149">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Omsk Oblast<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 12.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 6;">
<td nowrap="" style="border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 84.2pt;" valign="bottom" width="112">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Nazyvaevskaya<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 22.4pt;" valign="bottom" width="30">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">+3<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">1:43<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">9:37<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #FFFF99; height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">19:27<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">16:27<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 38.4pt;" valign="bottom" width="51">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">00:03<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #FFFF99; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">05:30<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">16:30<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.6pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">776<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 112.1pt;" valign="bottom" width="149">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Omsk Oblast<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 11.25pt; mso-yfti-irow: 7;">
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 84.2pt;" valign="bottom" width="112">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Ishim<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 22.4pt;" valign="bottom" width="30">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">+2<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">1:37<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">11:17<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">20:07<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">18:07<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 38.4pt;" valign="bottom" width="51">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">00:13<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">20:20<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">18:20<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.6pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">910<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 112.1pt;" valign="bottom" width="149">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Tyumen Oblast,<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 12.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 8;">
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: none; border-top: none; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 84.2pt;" valign="bottom" width="112">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Tyumen<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 22.4pt;" valign="bottom" width="30">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">+2<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">3:32<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">15:02<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">23:52<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">21:52<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 38.4pt;" valign="bottom" width="51">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">00:20<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: none; border-top: none; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">00:12<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">22:12<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.6pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">1199<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 112.1pt;" valign="bottom" width="149">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Tyumen Oblast,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 12.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 9;">
<td nowrap="" style="border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 84.2pt;" valign="bottom" width="112">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Istok<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 22.4pt;" valign="bottom" width="30">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">+2<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">4:07<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">19:29<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #FFFF99; height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">04:19<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">02:19<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 38.4pt;" valign="bottom" width="51">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">00:30<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #FFFF99; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">04:49<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">02:49<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.6pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">1510<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 112.1pt;" valign="bottom" width="149">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Sverdlovsk Oblast<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 12.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 10; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;">
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: none; border-top: none; height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 84.2pt;" valign="top" width="112">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Yekaterinburg arr.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 22.4pt;" valign="top" width="30">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">+2<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">0:23<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">20:22<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">05:12<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">03:12<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #92D050; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 38.4pt;" valign="bottom" width="51">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">22-Jul<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #D9D9D9; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #D9D9D9; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 30.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="41">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.6pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">1525<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 112.1pt;" valign="bottom" width="149">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Sverdlovsk Oblast<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We left Novosibirsk on time and rode the seven span half
mile long bridge over the Ob River, one of the world’s longest rivers. An hour and one half out we made a two minute
stop at Chulymskaia where the station had several life size statues in white
posing outside the building. One was a
man that looked like he was running to catch a train.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our first long stop was at Barabinsk which was once a place
of exile for Polish Jews. As we rolled
into the station we saw the usual World War II Lend Lease Steam Engine on
display. At the station was the typical
stalls setup alongside. The building its
self was a very plain contemporary style structure. As a matter of fact it reminded me of the
Litton Aerospace Headquarters building in my home town of Woodland Hills.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I bought a cold ice tea at a stall and after we departed I
had a lunch of my ham and cheese. We
rode along with an increase of freight traffic with oil, coal and timber. I could sense we were getting closer to populated
areas.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At 17:06 we arrived in Omsk for a thirty eight minute
stop. Omsk is the city Fyodor Dostoevsky
was exiled to in 1849. With a population
of over 1.1 million Omsk it is the seventh size city in Russia and second to
Novosibirsk in size in Siberia. For a
brief period during the Russian Civil War in 1918–1920, it served as the
capital of the anti-Bolshevik Russian State and held the imperial gold
reserves. When the Bolsheviks took power
they transferred the Siberian administrative offices to Novosibirsk diminishing
its importance. But, during World War II
it gained importance since it was closer to Moscow but away from the German
advance.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We left the platform by stairs over the tracks to the
station. It had a beautiful interior,
almost like a museum, with a set of large chandeliers hanging from a two story
high room. The lunch room was right out
of “Johnny Rocket’s” style décor, with even a cheese burger painted on a door.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When we left the station we crossed another six span bridge
over the Irtysh River. At 18:00 are
group was scheduled to get our one prepaid meal in the dining car. It consisted of potato salad, a mix of peas
and corn and a form of brown rice. We
were each given a box with a roll and tea bags.
I downed most of it with a beer.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At 19:27 we stopped for two minutes in Nazyvaevskaya where
we saw a Farris wheel behind the station.
Ishim was the next stop for thirteen minutes. We had to walk across tracks to get to the
station. There wasn’t much there with
only one small chicken shack and a couple of stalls to purchase food for the 2<sup>nd</sup>
Class passengers. Ishim was the
birthplace of the Russian fairy-tale writer Pyotr Yershov (1815–69), who’s most
famous work, The Humpbacked-Horse, was banned for many years by the tsar’s
censors.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The sun was setting so I made up my bed and went to sleep. I didn’t even get up when we stopped at
Tyumen for twenty minutes at mid-night.
It was the region’s oldest Russian settlement, and now a dynamic
oil-rich city but I slept through the stop.<o:p></o:p></div>
<h1>
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Wednesday, July 22, 2015 </span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Tour Yekaterinburg<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
I was sleeping through the night
when the train stopped at 04:19 in Istok.
The end of this leg was less than an hour away so I rose and packed up
to be ready to exit the train at 05:12 in Yetaterinburg. We were met on the platform by Vadim, our
first male guide. It was another down
stairs, under the tracks tunnel to the parking lot outside the station. It took us ten minutes to get everyone and
their luggage to the bus and an hour to get to our room in the Park Inn by
Radisson.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
I showered and shaved and
proceeded to breakfast at 07:00. Our
tour started at 10:00. We rode around
the city with Vadim describing the sights and the city. “Yekaterinburg (also know as Ekaterinburg),
is the fourth-largest city in Russia and the administrative center of
Sverdlovsk Oblast, located in the middle of the Eurasian continent, on the
border of Europe and Asia with a population of 1,349,772. It was the hometown of Boris Yeltsin and was
the main industrial and cultural center of the Ural Federal District. Between 1924 and 1991, the city was named
Sverdlovsk after the Communist party leader Yakov Sverdlov.” The later name change had confused me since I
didn’t remember assigning a Strategic Missile on Yekaterinburg during my tour
as the Chief of the US Joint Strategic Missile Targeting Team in 1970. I do remember we assigned weapons on
Sverdlovsk.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
We stopped at the Square of 1905
Revolution named after the first Russian revolution that took place in
1905-1907, the Lenin Monument, and Stalin empire style City Hall. The large statue of Lenin was across the
street from the five story high City Hall.
The Lenin statute was set on top of a viewing platform so that parades
could be held on the wide street between the statue and the City Hall. We climbed the stairs to the viewing plaza at
the base of Lenin’s statue and I took pictures of the square and of the
marvelous Roman style figures of workers with hammers, sickles, musical
instruments and books in their hands, on top of the City Hall. The center of the building had a large
steeple with a functioning clock tower topped by a gold sphere with the star
and crescent symbol.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
Our next attraction was crossing
over the dam of the Iset River on Lenin Street.
We stopped and walked down the embankment stairs to the south side of
the dam where water flows through a small drain gate into a beautiful canal
like area with water fountains and lights in the center.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<i>The “Plotinka”
(The Dam) was the first industrial facility that started the construction of
Ekaterinburg in 1723. Peter the Great’s
reforms at the beginning of the 18th century led to rapid development of the
Urals and formation of a new industrial area. Uktus Ironworks was built at the confluence of
the Uktus and Iset rivers. <o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<i>In the early
1720s a new head of the Ural Mining Administration Vasily Tatishchev (who later
became a famous statesman, historian, and geographer) arrived in the Urals. A decision was made to build a new large
ironworks on the Iset, about 7 km up the river “in between all works”. The new plant was meant to tie together mining
and metallurgical industry of the entire region. Timber harvesting for the future dam began in
March 1721, but soon the project was suspended and resumed only two years
later, when General Georg Wilhelm de Gennin was appointed the new head of the
Ural Mining Administration.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<i>The construction
of a fort to protect the future ironworks from the Bashkirs, who occupied this
territory at the time, began in 1723. Over 1 000 peasants from 20 villages worked on
the construction of the dam led by foreman Leonty Zlobin. They dug a deep ditch then used rows of wooden
piles and decks to form the body of the dam, all the gaps were filled with
clay.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<i>The dam was
originally earthen with larch wood base which does not rot, but hardens under
water without oxygen. The granite cover
was added much later during a reconstruction of the 1830-1850s. The researchers argue that having served
without a single repair for almost three hundred years, the dam could easily
stand for as much longer.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<i>In the 18th
century just like a human heart transporting blood the Dam transferred the
energy from the Iset to the first industrial objects of the city: ironworks,
mint, and stone-cutting factory. Today
it’s the historic center of Ekaterinburg, a place very popular among citizens
and affectionately called “Plotinka”.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<i>Contrary to
popular belief, the current central drain of the dam has never had industrial
use. It was necessary to get down vernal
waters and regulate the flow rate, to prevent the risk of flooding the plant. The actual industrial drains were located on
both sides of the central. One of them
nowadays serves as an underground passage, and the other one is used to store
cleaning equipment.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
Bsa-relief panels on the side of
the dam displayed a scene of who I believe was Vasily Tatishchev, sitting with
a drawing compass in his hand flanked by workers and politicians. A roller skater was practicing routines on
the plaza along the dam. At the end of
the drain gate was a very large stone of ore representing the mineral wealth of
the area that was processed in Yekaterinburg.
We walked across the plaza and up steps on the East side where there was
a Statue of the city's founders: Tatishchev & de Gennin and a stone and log
two story high rectangular building that looked as though it served as a guard
house over the dam.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
Across the street was a beautiful
large building that was built by a wealthy merchant in the 1800’s. A half a block away was the Square of Labor
and Chapel of Saint Ekaterina, a small ornate chapel. The bus picked us up and we rode past the
military headquarters with the statue of General Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov,
on top of a horse. He was a Soviet
career officer in the Red Army who, in the course of World War II, played the
most pivotal role in leading the Red Army drive through much of Eastern Europe
to liberate the Soviet Union from the occupation of the Axis Powers and,
ultimately, was the first to enter Berlin.
He was the most decorated general officer in the history of the Soviet
Union and Russia. After the death of
Stalin he was assigned (exiled) to the Ural Command in Yekaterinburg to remove
him from the Moscow power struggles. After
Khrushchev was deposed in October 1964, Brezhnev restored Zhukov to favor
(though not to power) in a move to use Zhukov's popularity to strengthen his
political position.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We stopped outside the military museum and walked around the
outside display of tanks and guns and then visited the Square of Soviet Army, honoring
soldiers of the first War in Afghanistan and then the War in Chechnya. The "Black Tulip", was installed in
1996 and displays a gigantic figure of a soldier, sitting on the ground with
his face down and almost lifeless. His
soul appears to be exhausted, hands drooped down powerless. Behind him were high slightly curved square
columns for each year with the names of the deceased from 1979 to 1989.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Leaving the square we rode to the high-lite of Yekaterinburg,
the Romanov Monastery (Church-on-the-Blood in the name of All Saints Shone
Forth in the Land of Russia) recently built in 2003 on the site of the Ipatyev
House where the Russian Czar Nicholas II and his family were executed. We spent some time touring the Cathedral with
its statues and pictures of the Czar’s family and in the basement a museum of
the Ipatyev House.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The house itself was built in the second half of 1870 by a famous
ural mining and metallurgical owner I. Redikortsev and in 1908 acquired by
well-known engineer and public figure of Ekaterinburg N. Ipatyev. It was the location where the first Czar of the
Romanov dynasty was crowned and where the last Czar and his family were hidden
from the public and eventually executed.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Across the street from the Cathedral was a park and down a
slope a row of wooden buildings housing historical sites: the Chamber Theater;
“The Wonderland” Museum of Dolls and Children’s Books; House-Museum of Fedor
Reshetnikov; an early Post Office; and “Literary Life of the Urals in the 20th
Century” Museum. After touring the site
we returned to the Cathedral and boarded the bus to ride out of the city to Ganina
Yama in the Four Brothers mine near the village of Koptyaki, 10 miles north of
Yekaterinburg.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>“On
the night of 17 July 1918, after the shooting of the Romanov family, the bodies
of Czar Nicholas II of Russia and his family (who had been executed at the
Ipatiev House) were secretly transported to Ganina Yama and thrown into the
pit.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>A
week later, the White Army drove the Bolsheviks from the area and launched an
investigation into the fate of the royal family. An extensive report concluded that the royal
family's remains had been cremated at the mine, since evidence of fire was
found and charred bones, but no bodies. But
the Bolsheviks, realizing that the burial site was no longer a secret, had
returned to the site the night after the first burial to relocate the bodies to
another area. The secret Bolshevik
report on the execution and burial did not give the location of the second
burial site, but the description provided clues.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>The
Russian Orthodox Church, relying on the White Army's reports in preference to
Bolshevik reports, declared the Ganina Yama site holy ground. The royal family and their retinue had been
canonized in 1981 by the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad. The grounds were therefore dedicated to honor
the family's humility during capture and their status as political martyrs. With financial assistance from the Ural Mining
and Metallurgical Company, the Church constructed the Monastery of the Holy
Imperial Passion-Bearers at the site in 2001. A tall cross marks the edge of the mine shaft,
visible as a depression in the ground.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>Seven
chapels were later constructed at the site, one for each member of the royal
family. Each chapel is dedicated to a
particular saint or relic. The
katholikon is dedicated to the Theotokos Derzhavnaya, an icon particularly
revered by the monarchists; it burnt to the ground on 14 September 2010 but is
slated to be restored. On the
anniversary of the murder, a night-long service is held at the Church of All
Saints (Church on the Blood) on the site of the Ipatiev House. At daybreak, a procession walks four hours to
Ganina Yama for another ceremony. The
former mine pit is covered with lily plants for the ceremony.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We toured the grounds for an hour entering most of the
churches, viewing the many statues and mine shaft entrance. It was impressive and very well
maintained. The statutes were exquisite.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We boarded the bus again and drove further out of the city
and stopped to have lunch at a hotel complex.
I had very nice dish of green olives, chopped tomato, cucumber and
cheese soaked in a Balsamic sauce followed by raw salmon and sliced meats.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After lunch we rode to the Military Museum in the town of
Verkhnyaya Pyshma where we spent an hour touring the museum which displayed a collection
of over 70 military machines exhibited in the open air grouped by service: Army
tanks, guns and vehicles, aircraft and missiles, naval vessels and even trains.
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The history of the museum started in 2005 when the veterans
of the Great Patriotic War asked Andrey Kozitsin, the president of UGMK Holding
(Ural Mining and Metallurgical Company) to restore a few machines for the
Victory Parade. He did an excellent job
and turned the effort in to an outstanding very well maintained museum. Many of the vehicles are kept in running
condition and take part in the Victory Parades on a regular basis.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In 2013 museum opened a three story pavilion with retro cars
and motorbikes. I headed directly to the
aircraft and missiles and finished touring the complex first. Vadim asked me what interested me and told
him antique cars he quickly purchased a ticket for me to enter the pavilion which
was not on our tour schedule.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I was very surprised with the display inside. The first row of cars were a Ford Model A and
a Russian clone, followed by a Packard Town Car next to Russian clones and on
down the line would be a US auto next to a similar looking Russian auto. Overhead they had small aircraft
hanging. Next to the Ford Model A
Roaster was a Star Model F Roadster that had a California 2007 Historical
Vehicle plate and California 1925 plate.
Star was a marque that was assembled by the Durant Motors Company
between 1922 and 1928. a short lived competitor of the Ford Model A and was
also sold in the UK under the name Rugby.
I was very impressed by the museum and would have liked to spend more
time but we still had sites to see.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We rode forty five minutes to stop at the monument that
marks the divide between Asia and Europe.
It was on the old road to Moscow and then we rode on the highway to a
larger more impressive monument on the new highway to Moscow.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We started to ride back to the city when Vadim told the bus
driver to stopped at typical family home next to the road. He jumped out knocked on the door and then
turned to motion us to leave the bus and tour the house. The lady of the house had a small girl in her
arms. Vadim should us that the houses
are constructed so you first enter a room that looks like a garage or
workshop. There you remove your shoes
and enter another door to the main house.
Out back we were shown that the house stood on almost a half-acre of
land covered with vegetable plants.
There were several enclosed “hot house” structures were tomatoes and
other vegetables were being grown. Out
the back door was a sink and counter and a sack of mushrooms were being
cleaned.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Inside we were invited to have tea and crepes with homemade
strawberry jam. I can’t believe she
didn’t know we were coming because Vadim appeared to know his way around the
house. At one point he showed us items
displayed on a book shelf. We thanked
her for the tea and crepes and bid her farewell.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We were back on the road by 18:00. It was a nice experience to see how the
locals lived and grew there vegetables.
We had seen so many villages with similar homes during our journey it
was a treat to actually see the interior and yards and the way the people
lived.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We still had over a forty minute ride back to our
hotel. Along the way we passed a large
Ikea Store and a large shopping mall. I
guess large cities throughout the world have some common denominator.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When reached the hotel I was ready ready to get a good night’s
sleep before our last train ride.<o:p></o:p></div>
<h1>
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Thursday, July 23, 2015 </span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Train
Yekaterinburg to Moscow<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
We had a hearty hotel breakfast at
07:00 and checked out of the hotel at 08:50 for the ride to the train
station. The train station contained a
museum of shorts with displays of the railroad uniforms and other memorabilia
from various eras. As an example the
1951-1985 display contained a brief case, digital calculator, cradle telephone
and a computer key board. The 1986-2014
displayed a suitcase with four wheels and a digital phone.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
Overhead Vadim showed us paintings
of historical scenes depicting the history of the Ural Mountain area and the
development of the city. It was
impressive.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
We boarded the train and were
assigned the same compartments. It was
train number 15 and the car looked almost brand new with two chemical toilets.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
The following is the schedule for
the 25 hour trip.<o:p></o:p></div>
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoNormalTable" style="border-collapse: collapse; margin-left: 4.65pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-table-layout-alt: fixed; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184; width: 585px;">
<tbody>
<tr style="height: 34.5pt; mso-yfti-firstrow: yes; mso-yfti-irow: 0;">
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Station<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 34.5pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: 1.0pt; mso-border-color-alt: windowtext; mso-border-left-alt: .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: .5pt; mso-border-style-alt: solid; mso-border-top-alt: 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 22.4pt;" valign="bottom" width="30">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">MT<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: none; border-top: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 34.5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="38">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">DUR of LEG<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 34.5pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Trip<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #FFFF99; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: none; border-top: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 34.5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Local Ar.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 34.5pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">MT Ar.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: none; border-top: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 34.5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 38.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="51">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Stop<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #FFFF99; border-right: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 34.5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: .5in;" valign="bottom" width="48">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Local Lv.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 34.5pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.5pt;" valign="bottom" width="42">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">MT Lv<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-left: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 34.5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 100.5pt;" valign="bottom" width="134">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;"> Adminstrative
Area<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 11.25pt; mso-yfti-irow: 1;">
<td nowrap="" style="border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 87.75pt;" width="117">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Yekaterinburg dep.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 22.4pt;" width="30">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">+2<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #D9D9D9; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.15pt;" width="38">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">0:00<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td colspan="2" nowrap="" style="background: #D9D9D9; border-right: solid black 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 63.0pt;" width="84">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Train 015<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #92D050; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 38.15pt;" width="51">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">23-Jul<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #FFFF99; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: .5in;" width="48">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">10:12<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.5pt;" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">08:12<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 100.5pt;" width="134">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Sverdlovsk Oblast<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 11.25pt; mso-yfti-irow: 2;">
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 87.75pt;" width="117">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Druzhinino<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 22.4pt;" width="30">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">+2<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.15pt;" width="38">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">1:21<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">1:21<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">11:33<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">09:33<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 38.15pt;" width="51">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">00:28<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: .5in;" width="48">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">12:01<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.5pt;" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">10:01<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 100.5pt;" width="134">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Sverdlovsk Oblast<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 11.25pt; mso-yfti-irow: 3;">
<td nowrap="" style="border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 87.75pt;" width="117">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Krasnoufimsk<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 22.4pt;" width="30">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">+2<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.15pt;" width="38">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">2:00<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">3:49<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #FFFF99; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">14:01<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">12:01<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 38.15pt;" width="51">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">00:02<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #FFFF99; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: .5in;" width="48">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">14:03<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.5pt;" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">12:03<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 100.5pt;" width="134">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Sverdlovsk Oblast<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 12.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 4;">
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 87.75pt;" width="117">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Yanaul<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 22.4pt;" width="30">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">+2<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.15pt;" width="38">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">2:51<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">6:42<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #FFFF99; height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">16:54<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">14:54<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 38.15pt;" width="51">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">00:02<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #FFFF99; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: .5in;" width="48">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">16:56<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.5pt;" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">14:56<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 100.5pt;" width="134">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Republic of
Bashkortostan<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 12.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 5;">
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 87.75pt;" width="117">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Sarapul<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 22.4pt;" width="30">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">+1<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.15pt;" width="38">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">1:08<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">7:52<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #FFFF99; height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">17:04<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">16:04<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 38.15pt;" width="51">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">00:02<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #FFFF99; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: .5in;" width="48">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">17:06<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.5pt;" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">16:06<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 100.5pt;" width="134">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Udmurt Republic<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 11.25pt; mso-yfti-irow: 6;">
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 87.75pt;" width="117">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Argyz<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 22.4pt;" width="30">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">0<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.15pt;" width="38">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">0:54<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">8:48<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">17:00<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">17:00<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 38.15pt;" width="51">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">00:15<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: .5in;" width="48">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">17:15<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.5pt;" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">17:15<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 100.5pt;" width="134">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Kirov Oblast<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 11.25pt; mso-yfti-irow: 7;">
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 87.75pt;" width="117">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Kazan Pass<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 22.4pt;" width="30">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">0<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.15pt;" width="38">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">4:17<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">13:20<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">21:32<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">21:32<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 38.15pt;" width="51">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">00:15<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: .5in;" width="48">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">21:47<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.5pt;" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">21:47<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 100.5pt;" width="134">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Tatarstan<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 12.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 8;">
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: none; border-top: none; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 87.75pt;" width="117">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Kanash<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 22.4pt;" width="30">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">0<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.15pt;" width="38">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">1:54<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">15:29<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #FFFF99; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">23:41<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">23:41<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 38.15pt;" width="51">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">00:01<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #FFFF99; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: none; border-top: none; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: .5in;" width="48">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">23:42<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.5pt;" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">23:42<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 100.5pt;" width="134">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Chuvashia Republic<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 11.25pt; mso-yfti-irow: 9;">
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 87.75pt;" width="117">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Sergach<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 22.4pt;" width="30">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">0<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.15pt;" width="38">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">1:52<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">17:22<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #FFFF99; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">01:34<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">01:34<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 38.15pt;" width="51">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">00:02<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #FFFF99; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: .5in;" width="48">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">01:36<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.5pt;" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">01:36<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 100.5pt;" width="134">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Nizhny Novgorod Oblast<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 11.25pt; mso-yfti-irow: 10;">
<td nowrap="" style="border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 87.75pt;" width="117">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Mourom 1<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 22.4pt;" width="30">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">0<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.15pt;" width="38">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">3:13<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">20:37<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #FFFF99; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">04:49<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">04:49<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 38.15pt;" width="51">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">00:02<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: #FFFF99; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: .5in;" width="48">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">04:51<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 11.25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.5pt;" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">04:51<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 11.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 100.5pt;" width="134">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Vladimir Oblast<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 12.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 11;">
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 87.75pt;" width="117">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Vekovka<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 22.4pt;" width="30">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">0<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 28.15pt;" width="38">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">1:03<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">21:42<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.7pt;" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">05:54<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.3pt;" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">05:54<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 38.15pt;" width="51">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">00:23<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: .5in;" width="48">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">06:17<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 12.0pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 31.5pt;" width="42">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">06:17<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 100.5pt;" width="134">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Vladimir Oblast<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 12.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 12; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;">
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: none; border-top: none; height: 12.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 87.75pt;" width="117">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Moscow<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">0<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">3:06<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">25:11<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">09:23<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">09:23<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">24-Jul<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Moscow<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Leaving the city we passed by a large body of water which I
guess was the Iset River. There were
nice little cabins on the shore between the railway and the water. Our first stop was at Druzhinino which was a
shabby little station in need of paint on the railway side. The town side was nicely painted and there
was a nice shaded picnic area next to the station. From there we rode through small farms and
villages, green pastures and small trees.
It was a big contrast from the forests we passed through in the Far
East.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was generally like that all afternoon and we stopped at Argyz
five minutes ahead of schedule at a middle platform with a freight train
blocking our access to the station. Our
next long stop was at Kazan Pass where again we were stopped by a middle
platform but this time there was a convenient stairway overhead. I counted four very long trains of oil
tankers and three trains of coal and ore on adjacent tracks. It was a busy train yard! The station was in good condition and I was
able to get in a good walk before we started out again.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After that stop we had our paid for meal which was a plate
of the same brown rice like dish with a slice on pork on top and a roll.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Just before we were going to turn in there was a short stop
at Kanash where a group of the young ladies that were summer interns as Provodnitsas
(female train car attendant) were gathered to have a quick visit with their
boyfriends on the platform. It was a
touching scene.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After that we retired for our last night on the train<o:p></o:p></div>
<h1>
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Friday, July 24, 2015 </span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Tour Moscow<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
We got up at 05:30 for a 23 minute
stop in Vekovka. We were block from the
station by a freight train of coal cars.
As we stretched our legs we discovered that they were changing the
engine on the train. The new engine was
an electric one and I watched them hook it up to our train.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Three hours later we arrived in Moscow, our train journey
was over. It was unbelievable that we
had not experienced any bad weather the whole trip and the Moscow sky was
bright with a thin layer of clouds.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Moscow station was very large as you would expect with a
high dome ceiling skylight. Outside as
we were loading our luggage in the bus I noticed that both a Subway and a KFC
had outlets alongside the train station.
Our route to the Park Inn by Radisson Sadu where would spend the night
took us by may sights that I remembered from my last trip to Moscow in 2010.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our first stop was at the Ensemble of the Novodevichy
Convent World Heritage Site.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>The
Novodevichy Convent, in south-western Moscow, built in the 16th and 17th
centuries in the so-called Moscow Baroque style, was part of a chain of
monastic ensembles that were integrated into the defense system of the city. The convent was directly associated with the
political, cultural and religious history of Russia, and closely linked to the
Moscow Kremlin. </i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i> It was used by women of
the Tsar’s family and the aristocracy. Members
of the Tsar’s family and entourage were also buried in its cemetery. The convent provides an example of the highest
accomplishments of Russian architecture with rich interiors and an important
collection of paintings and artifacts.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There we toured the grounds and buildings. I liked that they allowed us to take pictures
inside the Smolensky Cathedral (1525) and descriptions of the artwork were
provided in English. Next to the grounds
was a small lake. In 2010 I had observed
the Convent from the other side of the lake so this visit was a first for me.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A short walk from the convent we entered the Novodevichy Cemetery.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>Under
Soviet rule, burial in the Novodevichy Cemetery was second in prestige only to
burial in the Kremlin Wall Necropolis.
Among the Soviet leaders, only Nikita Khrushchev was buried at the
Novodevichy rather than at the Red Square.
Since the fall of the Soviet Union, the Kremlin Wall is no longer used
for burials and the Novodevichy Cemetery is used for only the most symbolically
significant burials. For example, in
April 2007, within one week both the first President of the Russian Federation
Boris Yeltsin and world-renowned cellist Mstislav Rostropovich were buried
there.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>Today,
the cemetery holds the tombs of Russian authors, musicians, playwrights, and
poets, as well as famous actors, political leaders, and scientists. More than 27,000 are buried at Novodevichy. There is scant space for more burials. A new national cemetery is under construction
in Mytishchi north of Moscow.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>The
cemetery has a park-like ambiance, dotted with small chapels and large sculpted
monuments. It is divided into the old (Divisions
1-4), new (Divisions 5-8) and newest (Divisions 9-11) sections.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Unlike most US cemeteries the graves were marked by: busts;
bas-relief likeness; full statues; and monuments. We had an interesting time trying to guest whose
grave we were observing. After the
cemetery tour we boarded the bus again for a ride to our next stop at the
impressive Moscow State University building, the tallest education building in
the world at 787 feet. It was completed
in 1953 and has two u shaped wings connected to a cross structure, 36 stories
high with over 5,000 rooms.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The next stop was at Poklonnaya Hill. It is the highest spot in Moscow and in 1812,
it was the spot where Napoleon in vain expected the keys to the Kremlin to be
brought to him by Russians. In the
1960s, the Soviet authorities decided to put the area to use as an open-air
museum dedicated to the Russian victory over Napoleon. The New Triumphal Arch, erected in wood in
1814 and in marble in 1827 was relocated and reconstructed there in 1968. A loghouse, where Kutuzov presided over the
Fili conference which decided to abandon Moscow to the enemy, was designated a
national monument. The huge panorama
"Battle of Borodino" by Franz Roubaud (1910–12) was installed there
in 1962. A monument to Kutuzov was
opened in 1973.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Victory Park and the Square of Victors were important
parts of the outdoor museum. In the
1990s an obelisk was added with a statue of Nike and a monument of St George
slaying the dragon. The obelisk's height
is exactly 141.8 meters, which is 10 cm for every day of the War. A golden-domed Orthodox church was erected on
the hilltop in 1993-95, followed by a memorial mosque and the Holocaust
Memorial Synagogue.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The bus left a number of us to walk down the hill past a
number of monuments, statues and bas-relief plaques to the Triumphal Arch. It rained briefly but was dry by the time we
reached the bus at the bottom of the slope.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We continued to tour the city passing many famous buildings
before stopped to tour Saint Basil's Cathedral at the end of Red Square. Our group had a reserved appointment to tour
the Cathedral which has become a museum.
During our thirty minute tour we were allowed to take pictures and we
found many descriptions in English and in one hall we were serenaded by a male
quartet.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I was fascinated to tour the Cathedral, the background of
which Judy and I used for our 2010 Christmas Card.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When we finished we walked over to the GUM department store
to have lunch at its cafeteria on the third floor. There was a long line for the buffet but our
guide arranged for us to use the shorter “businessman’s” line which had a fixed
menu of borscht soup, shell pasta, bread, cucumber salad and a lemon tea
drink. Afterwards, several of us had a
soft serve yogurt at a concession stand a short distance away.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We finally checked in to our hotel and I set out to walk to
see my favorite funky monument in Moscow “The Peter the Great Statue”. It is a 98-metre-high monument to Peter the
Great, located at the western confluence of the Moskva River and the
Vodootvodny Canal in central Moscow. It
was designed by the Georgian designer Zurab Tsereteli to commemorate 300 years
of the Russian Navy, which Peter the Great established. It was erected in 1997 and is the eighth
tallest statue in the world and weighs around 1,000 tons and contains 600 tons
of stainless steel, bronze and copper.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>Since
its inception, the statue has courted controversy. In November 2008, it was voted the tenth
ugliest building in the world by Virtual Tourist. In 2010, it was included in a list of the
world's ugliest statues by Foreign Policy magazine. Lonely Planet commented: "Questions of
taste aside, Muscovites were skeptical about the whole idea: why pay tribute to
Peter the Great, who loathed Moscow and moved the capital to St
Petersburg?"<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>The
designer Zurab Tsereteli is known as a friend and favorite of Moscow's former
Mayor Yury Luzhkov, and the artist received a number of municipal art
commissions under his patronage, such as the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, the
Manege Square ensemble and the War Memorial Complex on Poklonnaya Gora. In October 2010, following Luzhkov's departure
from office, Moscow authorities, reportedly keen to get rid of the Peter the
Great statue, offered to relocate it to Saint Petersburg, but this offer was
refused by the city. Authorities in
Arkhangelsk and Petrozavodsk have offered to accept the monument.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>The
statue is allegedly based on a design originally intended to commemorate the
500th anniversary of the first voyage of Christopher Columbus in 1992. When an American customer for the project
could not be found, it was repurposed with a Russian theme. Tsereteli denies the story. A separate, equally colossal statue of
Columbus by the same designer eventually wound up in Puerto Rico after being
rejected by various US cities, but, as of 2011, remains disassembled.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It is so funky that I have just loved it since I first saw
it 2010. I took a selfie with it on my
cell phone and posted it on my Facebook page.
I walked back to my hotel and rendezvoused with Ted, Steve and Bill to go
to dinner with a lawyer friend of Steve’s that lives in Moscow. We left to eat at a place recommended by the
hotel but before we got there I received a call from Wendy reporting on Judy’s
condition. I turned back and called Judy
and although she had had low blood sugar episode she had drank a glass of
orange juice and tested back in the normal range.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I set up my laptop and connected to the internet and caught
up on my email.<o:p></o:p></div>
<h1>
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Saturday, July 25, 2015 </span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Fly
Moscow to LAX<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
Ted had a 5am hotel departure for
a 09:20 flight to IAD. My hotel
departure was not until 08:45 for my flight to LAX. I ate a nice breakfast at 07:30, and then
returned to my room to finish packing and checked out. Bob, Cathy, Edna and Ed were scheduled on the
same flight.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
At the airport, Edna, Ed and I
checked in at the same time. I asked for
a middle aisle seat and was told that I had been preassigned to a window aisle
seat which I had suffered in on the flight over because those seats have no leg
room due to the entertainment equipment box.
The agent told me that the aircraft was full and all the inter aisle
seats were assigned. I then asked for a
window seat and she assigned me 50A the last row on the aircraft but due to the
coverture of the tail it was just a two seat row.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I then passed through security and proceeded to the
gate. I had an over two hour wait before
boarding. When I got to the gate I found
it to be awkwardly laid out with an elevator dividing the economy class and
premier class lines. There were a number
of people already in the gate area.
Several were sleeping on camping bed rolls and one young man with a
University of Nebraska – Lincoln (UNL) shirt had strung up a hammock and his
wife was resting in it. Since UNL was my
Graduate School I went over and introduced myself. He told me he was also a UNL graduate and
still lived in Lincoln and was on his honeymoon. We chatted a little and then I looked for an
outlet to charge my phone for the long flight.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
People started to line up for the flight so I stood on the
Economy side of the elevator shaft.
There was a ribbon stretched between the check in stand and the elevator
wall. A group of security agents were
sitting along the elevator wall chatting.
As check-in time approached a long line had formed behind me and when
they finally announced the flight I the security agents took a position near
the gate agent to check passports prior to the scanning of our boarding
pass. The first started to process the
premier passengers on the other side of the elevator and then they announce the
economy boarding and I removed the ribbon and proceeded to have my passport
checked. The Security Agent refused to
check my passport and told me I had to turn around and go around the elevator column
to the premier line entrance. I asked
him way when the line was right there that he couldn’t process us. He nastily said “It is the American security
fault”. I then asked why when he saw the
line had formed on the left side of the elevator that he didn’t tell us that
there would be only one enterance on the right side. He retorted “It is the American’s
fault”. I gave up and proceed to join
the line in the other direction.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When I got to my seat I was pleasantly surprised to find
that there was a space between the seat and the wall so there was more leg room
than the regular seats plus I could store my small carryon between my seat and
the wall. M I think next time I fly on a B-777 I will ask for the last row
window seat.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was an uneventful flight most of the way. I watched a Russian film titled “The Lives of
Others” which was an academy award nominee for foreign film. Then I watched “Her” and then dozed off. As we got close to LAX I woke to a commotion
in the aisle and Edna informed me that Ed had suffered a speeding heart and he
was laid out on the floor in the back. I
got out of my seat to see if I could help.
There were two doctors and a nurse giving him first aid and checking his
pulse and blood pressure. I then
informed Cathy and she came back to see if what needed to be done. We were closer to landing at LAX than SFO so
they didn’t divert the flight but they did move Ed and Edna to seats by the
exit and when we landed an EMT team wheeled him off before the rest of the
passengers.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When I finally exited the plane from the last row I
discovered that Ed, Edna and Cathy were still at the end of the jet way filling
out paperwork for Customs. The EMT tech
told me they were going to take him to the Marina Del Ray Hospital. Ed appeared to be normal and in good spirits
but they wanted to keep him in observation overnight and run some tests to make
sure he was OK. Ed is a few years older
than I am but appeared to be in great shape.
Just the night before he had told me he walked around the Kremlin and
back to the hotel. But his heart
irregularity had caused him to cancel out of the Antarctica Expedition in
April. He was released in two days.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
My ride picked me up at the curb and I was home for supper.<o:p></o:p></div>
Edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03034021752003929779noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2230692068076603436.post-466755872736938512015-06-01T17:06:00.000-07:002015-06-01T17:06:22.472-07:00Bouvet Island Adventure March to April 2015<div style="border-bottom: solid #DDDDDD 1.0pt; border: none; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: accent1; mso-element: para-border-div; padding: 0in 0in 4.0pt 0in;">
<div align="center" class="MsoTitleCxSpFirst" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<h2>
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Overview</span></h2>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My Bouvet Island Adventure Expedition Cruise was arranged by
Advantage Travel & Tours, Poway, California to complete the 2012 Antarctica
Adventure Expedition Cruise that was aborted at South Georgia Island due to
engine failure. This trip was scheduled
through the same company: Oceanwide Expeditions, but on a different ship, the M/V
Ortelius.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I was traveling with several of the same group as in 2012: Cathy
and Bob Parda (Bob P), Lynn Bishop, and Mike Bidwell, from the Advantage Travel
group; Bob Bonifas (Bob B), and Roman Bruehwiler from “The Most Traveled
People” (MTP) club. In addition there
were several of the same people whom I have taken many trips with in the past;
Bob Ihsen (Bob I), Neal Pollock, and Laurie Campbell plus Diana Boyer who Lynn
and I traveled with in 2010. Beverly and
Harold Griffith from Glendora, CA were also in the Advantage Travel & Tours
group.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Since Bovet Island is rarely visited many of the World’s
most traveled people were on the ship, they included Don Parrish, considered
the most traveled person in the world and 22 members of the MTP club and the
founder (Harry Mitsidis) and 16 members of the “The Best Traveled” (TBT) club,
plus 32 members of the Traveler’s Century Club (TCC). Twenty passengers had visited all the 193 UN
Member States and 7 of the 34 travelers profiled in the book “<i>Chasing 193: The Quest to Visit Every
Country in the World</i>” which includes a profile on myself, were on board.<o:p></o:p></div>
<h1>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Sunday, March 22 2015 </span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Fly from LAX to Panama City<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
I was scheduled for a 06:30
departure from LAX on Copa Airlines which required a 04:30 check-in and a 03:30
car service pick-up. Judy and I varied
our Saturday routine to attend our Saturday movie date in the afternoon instead
of the evening. We saw “<i>Above and Beyond</i>”, a very interesting
documentary on the formation of the Israeli Air Force following WWII. I still had some things to complete before
the trip when I got home as a result I didn’t go to bed and was starting the
trip with no sleep since Saturday morning.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My driver arrived about 03:15 and since I was ready to go we
left early. I had never ridden with the
driver before. He was from Cairo, Egypt,
but had immigrated to the US twenty years ago.
We chatted briefly, telling him of my travels in Egypt but soon I dozed
off. At that time in the morning it took
less than thirty minutes to reach the airport.
The diver was not that familiar with the Copa airlines departure
terminal and despite my telling him that Copa departed from terminal six he
drove to the Tom Bradley, International Terminal and didn’t find a sign for
Copa and drove on to terminal six.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When I entered the terminal at 03:45 I was surprised to see
how many people were in line at the Copa check-in. There was just one person checking in at the
Star Alliance Gold counter so I didn’t have to wait long. I saw Bob Ihsen in the middle of the long
line for the economy passengers. He had
stayed at a local hotel the night before to make sure he could get to the
airport on time since shuttle service from his area often takes over an hour.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When I reached the check-in counter, I handed the agent my
passport. She flipped through it and
then asked me for my Argentina Reciprocity Agreement which I had in the front
of the passport and she had flipped past it.
She then asked me if I was living in Argentina since she didn’t have a
return ticket. I showed her my return
ticket from London. That really confused
her. I told her I was taking a ship from
Ushuaia, Argentina. She wanted to see my
boarding pass for the ship and my ticket from Buenos Aries to Ushuaia. Gathering all that paperwork she moved to
another terminal and typed in a lengthy explanation. While she was typing I warned Bob Ihsen who
still had not gotten to a check-in counter to get all that paperwork out to
show the agent. My agent finally gave me
my documents back and issued a couple of boarding passes, one from LAX to PTY
and the other from PTY to EZE. She would
only check my luggage to EZE and she told me I had to retrieve it after
Passport Control, pass through customs and take it to another terminal to
check-in for my flight to Ushuaia. It
was probably the longest check-in for a flight I had ever experienced, over
twenty minutes.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I then walked over to the TSA line and found that they
hadn’t opened the Security Check Point.
Terminal 6 also serves US Air and there were a number of passengers for
their early morning departures queued up along with the Copa passengers. Copa did not print TSA Pre on boarding passes
but the TSA Pre line was not scheduled to open until one hour after the regular
TSA line opened. Once they opened the line
moved rapidly since they had many x-ray machines open.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I was disappointed to find that United had finally closed
their Terminal 6 Club. I was aware that
they were reducing the flights from LAX but the last time I flew United in
November the Terminal 6 Club was still opened.
With no Club to spend time I proceeded to my gate at the very end of
Terminal 6. Boy, it had changed from the
days that United and Continental had frequent departures from the large open
area at the end of the Terminal. I found
they had installed counters with many electrical outlets so I recharged my
phone while I waited for my flight.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The plane to Panama City was a B-737-800, so it didn’t have
a large First/Business Class section. I
was flying on United Miles so I had a Business Class ticket and was one of the
first to board the plane. My seatmate
was a professor from Caltech. He was
with a group of professors flying to Ecuador to help setup a technical
university. He was originally from India
and we had a nice chat about world travel until our breakfast was
finished. I then closed my eyes and
slept for several hours. I awoke and
started to watch a movie during breakfast but it hadn’t finished when we
landed.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Exiting the plane in Panama City I was met by Mike
Bidwell. He had arrived from Washington
Dulles just a few minutes before us.
After Bob Ihsen exited the plane the three of us proceeded to the Copa
Lounge for our seven hour layover before our flight to Buenos Aries. I was disappointed that I could not get a
strong Wi-Fi signal in the lounge to enable me to call Judy or Wendy on Vonage. It was Wendy’s fiftieth birthday. I was able to send her an email and message
on her Facebook. The food in the lounge
was just snacks. I did go out and visit
the Samsung store in the terminal concourse.
My Samsung smart phone had just been upgraded to a new operating system
and I couldn’t find where to turn off data when I was roaming. None of the technicians in the store spoke
English but I managed to get across my need and somehow they found the setting.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Eventually, it came time to board our flight to Buenos
Aries. When we got to the gate we met
Lynn Bishop. He just arrived from
Washington/Dulles. After catching up
with our recent travels we got ready to board the aircraft. Mike was also flying Business Class on miles so
we boarded together. My seat companion
didn’t speak English so I watched the rest of the movie that I hadn’t finished
on the flight from LAX to PTY while I had dinner. The dinner was beef. Not bad, but not great. The dinner and the movie finished about the
same time and I settled in to sleep. It
was a 6 hour and 45 minute flight and I think I got about four and one half
hours sleep.<o:p></o:p></div>
<h1>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Monday, March 23 2015 </span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Fly
Buenos Aries to Ushuaia<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
When we landed in Buenos Aires we
discovered a very long line at Passport Control. It took us one hour to get through the
passport check and pick up our luggage.
We then had to get the luggage x-rayed at Customs. They didn’t like the image the machine displayed
of my five weeks of pills. It displayed
on the machine as a 5 by 7 inch size boxes.
I had to open my bag to show that they were seven day pill holders full
of pills.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Outside Customs we had to walk a fair distance to the
Domestic Terminal C to check in for the flight to Ushuaia. I had two suitcases, one with my normal
travel gear and one with the winter and wet landing gear. They charged me for excess baggage and I had
to go to a cashier to pay the extra and return with the receipt before they would
check my bags and issue a boarding pass.
The security check was fast and easy and I entered a large departure
area with very few people. One of the
people was named Elliot Koch. He wore a
vest with MTP and TCC pins and a TCC name tag.
He was telling a group of ladies about his travels. I discovered that Mike had found a Sandwich
Bar at the far end of the room. The
restrooms were down there so I joined him after using the restroom. We were chatting while he drank a beer and
Ellie Fox arrived on the scene. We both
have traveled with Ellie in the past and she was a recipient of my journals. She purchased a bottle of juice and joined
us.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As the departure time approached we returned to the gate
area and Bob and Cathy Parda arrived.
They had flown in the day before and spent the night in a local
hotel. They informed us that Ed Herrman
who was supposed to be on the trip had cancelled due to a minor health
problem. This meant that Bob Ihsen would
be rooming by himself.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When they called the flight we boarded a bus which drove a
short distance and turned around and drove back across from our departure gate
where we had to exit and climb a flight of stairs to use a sky bridge to get to
our aircraft. I didn’t understand why we
needed to be ‘bused’ when it was just a short walk from the departure gate to
the building with the stair case. At the
top of the stairs I followed a group and thought it was strange we were walking
towards a Delta aircraft. Halfway there
an agent ran down to us and informed us we were on the wrong sky bridge and to
go back and enter another walkway to the sky bridge to the Aerolineas
plane. The aircraft was a large Airbus
340-300. A number of the passengers were
obviously going on our cruise. I spotted
Don Parrish who Klaus Billep, Chairman of the TCC, had told me the week before
at aTCC luncheon, was his client on the cruise and to say hello. I also spotted Frank Reimer, a frequent
traveler who I had first met in Northern Sudan and who later gave a
presentation at a TCC luncheon that I attended.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We landed in Ushuaia at 14:00. The luggage took a long time to arrive from
the aircraft. Eventually, I got my bags
and joined Lynn in a taxi to the Hotel Albatros. The hotel was a lot closer to the dock than
the one we stayed at in 2012. It still
was located on a hill but it was only one half an block to the level water
front area. I was booked to share a room
with Bob Ihsen. It took a while to
register and just as I finished completing the registration form, Bob Ihsen arrived
and informed us that his luggage was the last off the plane and Ellie’s didn’t
arrive at all. He and I settled in to a
rather small room and then he set out to explore the town. We were told the following day would be a
holiday so if we needed to purchase anything for the trip, that we should do it
that day.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It took some time to set up my CPAP machine and still be
able to use the lamp on the bed side table.
I finally was able to get the right combination of plug adapters and
then walked down the stairs to the lobby. As I entered the lobby I received a big hello
from Bob Bonifas who was standing with Don Parrish. We exchanged greetings and then he and Don
left to explore the town.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I walked around the town taking pictures. At one point I met up with Mike Bidwell. We saw our ship docked out on the wharf,
stern to stern with the M/V <strong><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Plancius, the ship we were on in 2012</span></strong>. It made for a nice picture.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Since Ushuaia is a cruise ship port near the dock area were
several small parks and displays of the area.
One of the displays had a sign in Spanish and English as follows:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>We
inform our visitors that by the Argentine National Law No 26.552, the Malvinas,
South Georgias, South Sandwich Islands and the surrounding maritime areas as
well as the Argentine Antarctic Territory, have been included in the
jurisdiction of the Province of Tierra del Fuego.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>At
the same time we should remember that the Malvinas, South Georgias, South
Sandwich Islands and the surrounding maritime areas, are, since 1833 under the
illegal occupation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The sign reminded me that when I was in Ushuaia in 2012 it
was the anniversary of the Malvinas/Falkland war and there were demonstrations
in the streets. This trip is five days
earlier so we will not witness the demonstrations again.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After my walk I returned to the hotel to call Judy and check
my email. Elliot was attempting to check
his email using a hotel desktop. When I
finished my call he started to tell me that he was one of the original members
of “The Most Traveled People” and had help design the MTP web site. He has since had a falling out with the MTP
founder and is not active on the list.
As we were talking I told him that I was on the 2012 aborted Oceanwide
Cruise and described some of the activities including the church service where
Roman Bruehwiler played the organ.
Sitting next to Elliot was a young man at one of the hotel
desktops. He introduced himself as
William Baekelaud from London and told us that he had just traveled with Roman
and that Roman was going on our cruise but without his wife.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I went on another walk around town and stopped at colorful
Irish Pub called the <strong><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“Bar Ideal”. Mike, Neal, Bob and
Cathy and Lynn were in there drinking wine or beer. I joined for a beer. Then I returned to the hotel.</span></strong><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<strong><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></strong></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Bob and Cathy Parda entered the lobby after a walk around
the town and told me that we would be going to dinner at 19:00. I returned to my room to wait until
19:00. The Argentinean’s, like the
Spaniards, eat their evening meals at 21:00 so it was difficult for Bob Parda to
find a restaurant that was open at 19:00.
He found that the La Estancia Parrilla would open at 19:00 so we walked
to it and were the first group to enter.
Shortly afterwards, Neal and Laurie arrived from a different hotel. I sat next to Ellie and caught up with her
most current travels and the status of her husband who has had a severe case of
Alzheimer’s for 25 years. It is a tragic
situation which I hope to avoid.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The restaurant served buffet style. There was a large salad bar which I piled
high on my plate and when I finished my salad I walked to a window where they
were serving meat. I selected, lamb,
beef and sausage. For dessert I selected
tiramisu. After dinner I walked back to
the hotel with Ellie following Bob Ihsen.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Bob and I went to bed rather early since I hadn’t slept in a
bed for two nights.<o:p></o:p></div>
<h1>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Tuesday, March 24 2015 </span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Departure from<span style="letter-spacing: -.5pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: .1pt;">Ushuaia<o:p></o:p></span></span></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
Bob Ihsen took the first shower
and went to breakfast. I had just
finished my shower and packing up my toilet kit and CPAP machine when he
returned. When I got to the restaurant I
met Lynn and Ellie but they were at a two seat table. The hostess took my room number and showed me
to a small table in a different section than Lynn and Ellie. When I rounded a partition to get my food, I
found Bob Bonifas sitting with two women and he asked me to join them. One was Carole Ann Peskin who had traveled
with Advantage Travel & Tours in the past.
The other was Elaine Melville from New Zealand. We talked about the 2012 experience on the M/V
<strong><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Plancius. After I finished my scrambled eggs and bacon
we stopped at the front desk to see if we could extend our check out time. We were told when we checked in that it might
be possible but the Receptionist told us that they had some last minute bookings
and would need us to check out at 10:00.<o:p></o:p></span></strong></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<strong><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">I returned to my room and
finished packing. A few minutes before
10, Bob left for the lobby. I asked him
to have the bell boy get a cart and pickup my bags outside the room while I
used the bathroom. When I finished Bob
entered the room and told me the bell boy hand carried my bags to the
lobby. We then went to the elevator and
discovered why. The button for the
ground floor had been pushed through the cover plate on the wall of the
elevator so it was difficult to use. I
was going to take the stairs when another guest entered the elevator stuck his
finger through the hole in the cover plate and was able activate the first
floor button. The door closed and we
proceeded down three floors and were met by two Elevator Technicians who took
the plate off and reattached the first floor button.<o:p></o:p></span></strong></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<strong><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Bob and I split the room bill and
then I proceeded to the lower lobby to setup my laptop to check my email. Judy had received a call from a technician at
the Microsoft Store. I had been getting
strange messages on my desktop and the Microsoft Customer Help Desk had been
unable to remotely fix the problem. The
Microsoft Store in the Topanga Mall offered a free service but they had a three
week waiting time so I took my desktop to them on my last day in town and told
them they could take four weeks because I was leaving town and if they had any
problems to contact my wife who will be able to contact me. I was surprised to see a message from Judy
that a technician had called Monday night and told her my desktop had serious
problems which they could not fix without reinstalling the Windows software. I called Judy thinking she would be up but I
woke her up to ask her to take my copy of Windows 8.1 to the technician at the
Microsoft Store and have him install it instead of re-installing Windows 7.<o:p></o:p></span></strong></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<strong><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">A number of people had gathered
around in the lower lobby renewing old acquaintances. Following my call to Judy I left the hotel to
take pictures for my journal of the places I had visited the day before. When I returned to the hotel I set up my
laptop and processed my emails. At noon,
Mike and I left for the “Bar Ideal” where we had beers the day before. It advertises itself as an Irish Pub and Mike
wanted to purchase a T-shirt with the pub’s logo. I just wanted a quick sandwich to tide me
over until we would have the evening dinner on the ship. I ordered a cheeseburger, which was a
mistake. It had a large bun and a small
thin patty of hamburger with melted shredded cheese and no lettuce, tomato or
onion. I should have ordered a pub
sandwich. Anyway it killed my hunger
pangs.<o:p></o:p></span></strong></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<strong><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">On the way back to the hotel we
noticed that </span></strong>M/V <strong><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Plancius had departed and the M/V Ortelius had turned around with the bow
facing the open sea. I walked down to
the water front park to take a good picture of the ship and to survey the route
I would have to take when I lugged my bags to the ship.<o:p></o:p></span></strong></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<strong><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Back at the hotel I called the
Microsoft Technician and discussed options he could take to fix my
computer. I then called Judy and ask her
to take my copy of Windows 8.1 to the store to be installed instead of reinstalling
Windows 7. Cathy was in the lobby and
informed us that Ellie’s luggage had not arrived on the aircraft from Buenos
Aries even though the airline had told her they had the bag. She was concerned and decided to fly back to
Buenos Aries and then home instead of having her luggage sit in Buenos Aries or
Ushuaia for thirty days while she took the cruise. I was sorry to see her go.<o:p></o:p></span></strong></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<strong><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">I continued on my laptop checking
email and Facebook. My eleven year old
grandson had created a very professional looking video that my son-in-law
posted on Facebook. I was surprised at
the title sequence and credit at the end.
I can’t imagine creating a video like that myself.<o:p></o:p></span></strong></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<strong><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">As the time to board the ship at
16:00 approached, the hotel lobby started to empty out as the people headed to
the wharf with their luggage. Some took
a taxi but our hardy group wheeled our bags down the short block to the Customs
office. I lagged behind because I had to
pack my laptop. It took me about fifteen
minutes to reach the ship. A small crowd
had assembled at the base of the gangway.
I had Bob Ihsen take my picture with the ship’s stern in the
background. Mike asked me to watch his
luggage while he walked back to the duty free shops along the waterfront. Soon one of the ship’s staff came down the
gangplank and marked our luggage with our cabin number in chalk. When Laurie’s bag had been marked she asked
what she should do next. The seaman told
her to get on board, so she walked up the gangplank followed by Lynn and myself
plus several others. The Ship’s Hotel
Manager arrived stopped us from going to our cabins. He told us the luggage was supposed to be
loaded first and delivered to the cabins and then the passengers should board
with only five passengers on the gangway at a time. At that point there were close to twenty
passengers on the gangway and it was difficult to turn them around to go back
to the wharf.<o:p></o:p></span></strong></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<strong><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">We eventually boarded and stopped
at the registration deck to surrender our passports and get the key to our
cabin. Lynn and I were assigned to
516. The fifth deck had recently been
updated and we found our room to be larger than the </span></strong>M/V <strong><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Plancius. As we were unpacking Cathy came by and
informed us that she had talked the Hotel Manager into letting one of us take
Ellie’s cabin. It was a little larger
with three windows. It also had a TV,
whereas 516 had no TV and just two windows.
I told Cathy I preferred to stay in 516 and let Lynn have the cabin with
the TV. We returned to 516 and Lynn
repacked his bag and moved to the other room.<o:p></o:p></span></strong></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<strong><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">I unpacked and an announcement
was made to meet in the Lecture Room on deck 3 for the Welcome Briefing. The staff was introduced and then we returned
to our cabins and put on our life jackets and met again in the ship’s bar. There roll call was taken and we were shown
how to wear the life vests and which of the two lifeboats we would be
assigned. We then left the bar and
proceeded to climb up to our assigned lifeboat.
We were then dismissed to stow our life jackets and return to the bar at
19:00 to meet the Captain and staff as follows.<o:p></o:p></span></strong></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<strong><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></strong></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Captain: Tuomo Leskinen from
Finland<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Hotel Manager: Robert
McGillivray from the UK<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Assistant Hotel Manager: Dejan Nikolic from Serbia<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Head Chef: Heinz
Hacker from Austria<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Sous Chef: Matthew
Crouch from Australia<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Bar Steward: Rolando
Garcia from the Philippines<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Ship’s Doctor Lise van
Turenhout from Amsterdam<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Expedition Leader: Jan Belgers from
Holland<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Assistant Expedition Leader: Brent Houston from Montana – Wildlife
researcher<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Guides: Bob
Brown from the UK – Marine Biologist<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> Dmitri
Banin from Russia – Ornithology and Marine Biology<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> Victoria
Salem from UK - Historian<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> Christian
Savigny from Argentina - Birder <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> Adam
Garde from Holland - Geologist</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
Details of the ship were: The M/V
Ortelius was named after the Dutch cartographer Abraham Ortelius (1527-1598)
who published the first modern world atlas, the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum
(Theatre of the World) in 1570. It was
built in 1989 in Gdynia, Poland, as a research vessel for the Russian Academy
of Science and was named Marina Svetaeva. In 2011 she was purchased by Oceanwide
Expeditions and was re-flagged and renamed Ortelius and reconfigured as a
126-Passenger vessel. Ortelius is 298
feet (91 meters) long, 58 feet (17.6 meters) wide and has a maximum draft of 19
feet (5.8 meters, with an Ice Strength rating of UL1/1A, top speed of 13 knots
and one diesel engine generating 3200 kW.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
Following the meeting we adjourned
to the dining hall for a sit down dinner starting with a Caprese Salad followed
by pan fried chicken breast with roasted potatoes and mixed vegetables. For dessert we had a strawberry mousse. The dining room on the ship is in the stern
of the ship and is divided into two sections with a buffet bar at the stern
end. Bob and Cathy had sailed on the
ship before and lead us to the section on the port side. The tables were fixed to the floor and eleven
had six seats with one had four seats.
On the starboard side they had seven tables seating six and two seating four.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
The dinner consisted of pan fried
chicken breast with roasted potatoes and mixed vegetables. Dessert was the strawberry mouse again. After dinner I returned to my room and set up
my laptop for the ships email. It was a
little confusing because unlike Outlook, when the Wi-Fi connection drops a copy
of your message is not saved as a draft.
I noticed that on the wall next to the power outlet was an Ethernet
receptacle. I checked with the Hotel
Manager and learned that the cabins are wired so I connected my laptop using an
Ethernet cable I always carry. The
Ethernet provide a stronger and a little more reliable connection.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
I set my alarm for 07:00 and went
to bed around 23:00.<o:p></o:p></div>
<h1>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Wednesday, March 25 2015 </span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">At Sea in the Drake
Passage<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
Jan woke us at 07:30. I showered and shaved and went to breakfast
at 08:00. They served scrambled eggs,
yogurt, oatmeal and fresh fruit. Following
the breakfast I returned to my room. The
stewards were cleaning the bathroom and making my bed. They were a couple from the Philippines: Alice
Dimaano and Charlie Manabat. They struck
me as being very pleasant and efficiently performed their tasks. I sat on the small couch in the cabin as they
went about their work.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
I connected my smart phone to the
Wi-Fi and processed email. At 10:30 I proceeded
down to the Lecture Room to attend a lecture by Dr. Bob Brown, titled "<i>A Wing and a Prayer, the life of seabirds</i>". Following his lecture I proceeded up to the
bar where there was strong Wi-Fi. I was
a little frustrated with the process since I had to enter a long number as a
user id to enable me to login and I kept mistyping it. Once I was logged in I was supposed to see a
screen that would display a status report and a button to logoff. I was not seeing the status report page every
time so I couldn’t logoff and various applications such as the newspapers were
pushing updates to my phone using up my purchased megabytes. I had to turn off Wi-Fi to break the
connection and not use megabytes.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
At 15:30 Jan started calling by
deck to proceed to the Lecture Room to be Issued boots. I donned heavy wool socks and waited for my
deck to be summoned. When my time came I
found the first boots they issued me to fit nicely and returned to my cabin.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
I returned to the Lecture Room at
16:30 to attend Dmitri’s lecture on the “<i>Whales
of Antarctica”</i>. It is difficult to
comprehend the sheer size of these gentle monsters of the deep, but Dmitri
explained clearly, with great diagrams and photos, about the different species
we hope to see on the cruise.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
Every evening Jan scheduled a
‘Recap’ where he tells us of the plans for the next day and when other
expedition staff talk about what we have seen and done during the day. Speakers that night were, Victoria and
Christian. Victoria about Sir Francis
Drake and Christian gave us more birding tips.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
Dinner was served at 19:00 and
started with a coarse farmer’s pate with wild berry chutney on an apple and
walnut salad. I had smoked pork as the
main followed by dessert of orange sherbet over fresh fruit salad.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
After dinner I returned to the Lecture
Room to see a short documentary about “<i>The
square-rigged sailing ship Peking</i>”.
In the olden days, rounding Cape Horn was a dangerous and exciting
enterprise and the movie described the risks and pleasures of sailing around
Cape Horn and through the Drake Passage.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
When the film ended I retired to
my room and wrote in my journal until I went to bed at 23:00<o:p></o:p></div>
<h1>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Thursday, March 26 2015 </span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">At
Sea in the Drake Passage<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
I slept soundly and woke to my
alarm just before Jan’s wake-up announcement.
I was surprised at how smooth the cruise was going. In 2012 the first night we experienced a roll
that had items sliding off the desk in the room and required a hand on a grab
bar in the shower. This time things
stayed put on the desk. I had the Hotel
Manager give me a foot square piece of rubber mat that I put under my CPAP
machine to stop it from sliding off the bedside table just in case. In addition I used the other bed to lay things
out such as bottles of water and reading material so they wouldn’t roll around
and wake me up.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
Breakfast included hard boiled
eggs and sausage. I sat with Laurie and
Bob Bonifas, Bob Ihsen, Neal and Mike. Following
breakfast Jan held a mandatory meeting in the Lecture Room to explain to us the
importance of avoiding accidental introductions of alien and invasive species,
which can so easily be carried in folds of our clothing and in back-packs,
etc. It was not new to me since I
attended similar lectures in 2012 and again in 2014. His talked was followed, with a vacuuming
session in the bar. I took my “going
ashore” gear up to the bar and vacuumed my clothing and back pack to remove any
stowaway aliens (otherwise known as ‘seeds’).<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
At 11:00 Victoria Salem gave us a
lecture titled “<i>An Introduction to Antarctica</i>”. Victoria is an excellent lecturer and has a
strong voice and did not need to use a microphone. Her presentation was well organized and
informative. It was a rapid description
of the continent, its weather, its ice, rocks, plants and animal life. She then described the visitors, scientists,
tourists and the various aesthetic and cultural associations of Antarctica.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
Following her lecture we had lunch
which included Asian style Vegetable Soup; Spicy Meat Balls in addition to
salad. For dessert they had a small
square of Mandarin cake.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
After lunch I returned to my cabin
and checked email and wrote in my journal until 14:30 when I attended a
compulsory meeting in the Lecture Room on: “<i>IAATO
Guidelines and - Do's and Don’ts on land”</i>.
After a short coffee break we returned at 16:30 to hear Jan explain how
to use zodiacs. He told us how to board
and dismount (face the sea and swing our legs over the side into the water) and
how to handle our back packs boarding, riding and exiting the zodiac.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
Bob and Cathy hosted an Advantage
Travel get-together in their cabin at 18:00.
They introduced the Griffiths to the group. At 18:30 we adjourned to the bar for the
daily recap and plans for the landing in the morning at the Russian
Bellingshausen station on King George Island in the South Shetland Islands and
the Uruguayan Artigas station in the afternoon.
The weather forecast was very favorable for easy landings. His briefing was followed by Victoria on the
first sightings of Antarctica and the South Shetland Islands by William Smith
and Edward Bransfield, and Dmitri on how to distinguish between the ‘Wandering’
and ‘Royal’ albatross.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
The dinner was served at 19:00 and
started with Italian Parma ham with melon followed by pan fry pork scaloppini
and warm blueberry cheesecake for dessert.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
After dinner I attended a
documentary titled: “<i>Antarctica: of ice
and men</i> “. It contained images of
how passengers, before IAATO, had cuddled penguins.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
Following the documentary I retired
to my room and wrote in my journal until I went to bed at 22:00<o:p></o:p></div>
<h1>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Friday, March 27 2015 </span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">South Shetland Islands<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
We had an early wakeup call at
06:30. Breakfast was at 07:00. I had a fried egg with baked beans and
toast. After I ate I went out on deck to
take pictures of King Edward Island in the South Shetland Island chain. It is interesting that islands were named for
the Shetland Islands off of Scotland since both islands are equal distance from
their hemisphere’s pole. The same
applies to the South Orkney Islands.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
At 08:00 we were called to the bar
for a short meeting on the landing on King George Island.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
The ship dropped anchor in a large
bay at the south-western end of King George Island, one of the islands in the
South Shetland Islands. There were 11 research
stations on the island.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
We were scheduled to start to
depart for the Russian Bellingshausen station at 09:00. I was in the first zodiac to land and the
first to return to the ship. I hadn't
planned it that way but just before the time to line up for the trip to shore I
was at the reception desk getting one of the staff to adjust my life vest. The belt was twisted and I couldn't get it
undone. Just after they fixed it they
said they were ready to take the first 10 ashore so I joined the group.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We had a wet landing which means there was no dock. They run the Zodiac up the beach and we have
to sit on the side facing away from the beach and swing our legs over and drop
in the water which was only six inches deep.
On the island we had to drop our life vest in a big bag and then wait
for the other six zodiacs to arrive. There was one lone Gentoo penguin on the beach
as we waited for the rest of the passengers to land. Once everyone was on shore we broke into two
groups. One group climbed a hill to
visit a church that was built on the top and the other group visited the
Russian buildings.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I joined the church group and took pictures. The church was Russian Orthodox in which the parishioners
stand during the service so there were no pews.
The church was constructed Altay village Kyzil-Ozek in 2002. In the autumn of 2003 the church was
dismantled and transported by cars from Altay to Kaliningrad because they
didn’t trust the railway. From
Kaliningrad it was transported by sea on the “Academician Serge Vavilov” and
reassembled in its current location and opened for services on February 15,
2004. Inside the church was a wall of
icons and religious figures framed in gold leaf. It was very impressive. I had been storing my camera inside my layers
of clothing so when I took it out to take pictures of the wall the lens fogged
up. Consequently my pictures were not
sharp. There were more passengers
waiting to enter so I left before the fog left my lens.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When I returned to the beach I visited the Russian building
and as was exiting the building when Jan announced that the first zodiac was
ready to return to the ship so I took it.
As I got on board the zodiac a pool of penguins were swimming around the
zodiacs and several climbing ashore. For
me it was bad timing because I would have loved to take pictures of them.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Lunch started at 12:00.
I had a large salad and an apple.
At 13:30 we met in the bar for a briefing on the afternoon landing at
the Uruguayan Artigas station. It took
me a little time to put my warm clothing and boots on resulting in my being on
the last zodiac to leave. The Uruguayans
were happy to see us. They rarely have
visitors so they invited us to their dining hall where they had tables of
pastry laid out and a drink bar. All the
Uruguayans were engaged in conversation so I talked with Laurie and Don
Parrish, discovering that Don grew up in a Dallas, Texas suburb not that far
from where my mother lived and I used to spend summers.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The station manager offered to lead us on a tour of the
other buildings in the station. When the
tour was over I returned to the beach and noticed that Jeroen Agneessens, one
of the passengers was taking his clothes off and then jumped in the water and
swam around before returning to the beach and getting dressed again. We certainly have an interesting group of
passengers! I then realized he was also
alum of the 2012 cruise.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
While we waited our turn to return to the ship a Uruguayan
was standing by wearing a jacket covered with patches which made a colorful
picture.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Back on the ship I returned to my cabin and shed all the
winter gear and boots. At 18:00 Bob and
Cathy hosted a get together in their cabin.
After a drink with them we proceeded to the 18:30 meeting in the bar to
hear Jan’s recap of the day’s events and the plans for the next few days.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Dinner was served at 19:00.
The starter was Tomato bruschetta with balsamic reduction. My selection for the main course was roast
loin of lamb which was outstanding. They
served pineapple cake for dessert.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
After dinner they showed a documentary
titled “<i>Penguin Post Office (about Port
Lockroy)</i>” in the Lecture Room.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
Following the documentary I
retired to my room and wrote in my journal until I went to bed at 22:00<o:p></o:p></div>
<h1>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Saturday, March 28 2015 </span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">At
Sea<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
I woke at 07:00 and was just
finishing my shower when Jan broadcasted the 07:30 wake up call. At eight I went to breakfast. The eggs were poached and they had sausages
and pancakes. I skipped the
pancakes. My table included Bob Ihsen,
Bob and Cathy, Lynn and Laurie.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Following breakfast I returned to my room to check email and
write in my journal. There were several
whale sightings but it was hard to catch them out of water. At 10:00 I attended a lecture on “<i>Shackleton’s Endurance Expedition”</i>
presented by Victoria Salem, the staff historian. It contained some details that were new to me
about the expedition. Following the
lecture I returned to my room and ventured outside when Jan announced more
whale sightings but I never was at the right place and time to take a
picture. We cruised past both Clarence Elephant
Island away off in the distance.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I spent some time in the Bar which has doors to the deck in
case there were some sightings. I missed
again and then it was lunch time. The
lunch buffet had roast pork shoulder with sauerkraut and potato dumplings. The soup was crab and corn. For dessert I had a bunch of grapes and
cheese. Mike, Bob Ihsen, Lynn and the
Griffiths sat at my table.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Around 14:30 we encountered a school of whales that came
quite close to the ship. I went out on
deck and I also saw ice formations in the distance. One formation was in the shape of a
ship. The horizon on the starboard side
had a continuous line of ice with occasional large icebergs poking up in
interesting shapes. The sun was out and
the whales continued to be observed so the afternoon lecture was postponed to
another day so that we could continue to watch the whales. I had no luck taking a picture of them.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At 18:00 the Advantage Travel group met in Bob and Cathy’s
room for cocktails before dinner. Their
get together ended at 18:30 so we could attend Jan’s recap meeting in the bar. At 19:00 dinner was served. I sat with Mike, the Griffiths, Bob Ihsen and
Laurie. The meal was Asian Chicken Salad
as the starter and the main was roast beef loin with red wine sauce, honey
glazed carrots and Lyonese potatoes.
Dessert was a warm chocolate fondant.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Following dinner Jan showed a movie in the Lecture Room. Jan has a great collection of movies and he
displayed the list for all attendees could agree on what they wanted to
watch. Of course we couldn’t come to an
agreement so Jan selected the 2014 movie “<i>Jimmy’s
Hall</i>”. It was based on a true story
set in the 1930’s about an Irishman named Jimmy Gralton, who led the
Revolutionary Workers' Group, a precursor of the Irish Communist Party, returning
to his village in County Leitrim, after he had lived in New York City. He renovated an abandon building his family
owned and turned it into a community recreation center where he conducted
classes and dances. The local conservative
leaders and catholic clergy were offended and fought to close the center down. Eventualy they had him deported back to the
New York City.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
After the movie I retired to my
room went to bed at 23:00<o:p></o:p></div>
<h1>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Sunday, March 29 2015 </span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Landing
at Argentinian Orcadas station<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
I woke to my alarm at 06:00 to
shower and layout my going ashore clothes, hoping I could put them on with less
effort than it took me on Friday. It was
a beautiful cold sunny day with a calm sea.
My cabin windows were covered with frost so I couldn’t see out but the
ship was not rolling. Jan’s wakeup call
was at 07:00.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
I went down to breakfast at 07:30
and after I ate I went out on deck to view Laurie Island, one of the South
Orkney Islands. The sea was calm and
there was a bright sun and no clouds in the sky. In the distance were several large icebergs
and were the water was very calm ice was forming in a sort of small round
groups of slush. I returned to my room
and put on my yellow rain pants and parka, grabbed my life vest and got ready
to go ashore.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
Back on deck I saw we were getting
closer to the inhabited side of the island and the sea had a little more of a chop and
the ice goblets disappeared. Soon we saw
red buildings on the shore. It was 09:30
and we had a clear view of the station.
The zodiacs were lowered and my turn to board occurred at 10:25. Brent was the zodiac driver and Bob Ihsen was
sitting across from me. I boarded a zodiac for the trip to the Orcadas station.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
They were staging the arrival of
the zodiacs so Brent first took us over to Punta Cormoran, which had an Aedile
Penguin colony. The smooth sea, bright
clear sky with ice bergs and rocks with some snow caps was a stunning
sight. We approached the colony of
Penguins that were molting. They just
stand there for three weeks (no coffee breaks or dips in the sea) with tufts of
feathers leaving their backs. There was
almost no moving around and none of them were diving in the water in search of
food. The molting period is a very
stressful time for the penguins so we made no effort to land and walk close to
them.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
Our turn to land at the station
finally came. The station was built on a
narrow flat area between two mountains with steep slopes. Orcadas station consisted of a number of small
red buildings scattered over the flat area that is open on opposite sides to
the ocean. The beach consisted of smooth
small rocks about the size of a baseball.
We walked with some difficulty up to the first building. Nearby were the ruins of the first building
on the island. What remained was the
rock walls of the “Omond House” constructed in 1903. The house was named after Scottish
meteorologist Robert T. Omond, a strong supporter of the idea of making
meteorological observations in Antarctica.
It was built with over 100 tons of stone manually quarried then hauled
on sledges from an adjacent glacial moraine and beams from the ship’s timber
supplies. Its main purposes were to
serve as a base for meteorological observations made at the nearby weather
station, and as living quarters for small parties left behind both when the
Scotia returned to Buenos Aires for repairs and supplies, and when she finally
returned to Scotland.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
A metal walkway has been
constructed so that visitors can see the remains and signs with diagrams of the
building plan. From the Omond House we
toured the Moneta House Museum.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
There we learned that Base Orcadas
is an Argentine scientific station in Antarctica, and the oldest of the
stations in Antarctica still in operation.
Established by the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition in 1903 and
transferred to the Argentine government in 1904, the base has been permanently
populated since, being one of six Argentine permanent bases in Argentina's
claim to Antarctica, and the first permanently inhabited base in Antarctica.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
The nearest port is the Argentine
city of Ushuaia, which is 933 miles away. The base has 11 buildings and four
main topics of research: continental glaciology, seismology, sea-ice-zone
glaciology (since 1985) and meteorological observations (since 1903).<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
Orcadas was the only station on
the islands for 40 years until the British established a small summer base,
Cape Geddes Station in Laurie Island in 1946, replaced by Signy Research
Station in Signy Island in 1947. It also
had the first radiotelegraph in the continent in 1927.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
In the museum we saw stuffed
penguins, the kitchen and quarters that housed the first permanent
researchers. The walls had pictures of
the station as it expanded over the years.
It now has 11 buildings to house up to 45 people during the summer, and
an average of 14 during winter.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
From the museum we walked across
the rock grounds to the cemetery which has markers for ten men who died at the
station from 1903 to 1998 when three men died at sea on March 31<sup>st</sup>. I wondered if they would have a memorial
ceremony in a couple of days.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
It was then our groups turn to
tour the red research buildings and observe the research equipment and living
quarters. I found that the research
station had open Wi-Fi. I was able to
download all my email to my smart phone but the bandwidth was not strong enough
for me to get a strong connection on a call to Judy via Vonage. I was able to connect and Judy answered but
the transmission was so chopped up we couldn’t communicate on either the AT&T
land line phone or the Vonage voice-over-IP internet phone.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
It was now after 13:00 and time to
return to the ship. As we gathered on
the rocky beach to await our turn to board a zodiac I observed Roman stripping
to his shorts and taking a short swim in the icy water.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
I was back in my cabin by 13:45
and took a picture of myself in my cold weather gear with my red ski mask on.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
Lunch was at 14:00 and consisted
of chicken soup with Thai noodles and the buffet of Austrian beef goulash and
salad. For dessert I had a small berry
cake.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
At 16:30 I attended Brent’s
lecture on “<i>Penguin Research on the
Antarctic Peninsula</i>”. He has had an
interesting career working in Antarctica and described the many researches in
which he had participated.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
At Jan’s recap he showed us the
weather maps for the route to our next destination, the South Sandwich Islands,
estimated to be two days away.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
For dinner they started with vegetable
samosas which looked like a form of an eggroll with a sweet sauce. For the main course I had sautéed Pork which
I wasn’t crazy about but the Mango mousse dessert made up for it.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
Following dinner I attended the
BBC documentary “<i>Ice</i>” about how the
Ice Ages on Earth formed our modern landscapes and influenced the evolution and
migrations of humans.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
After the documentary I retired to
my room went to bed at 23:00<o:p></o:p></div>
<h1>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Monday, March 30 2015 </span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">At
Sea<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
I awoke to my alarm at 07:00. The ship was rolling a little and my cabin
windows were covered with condensation so I couldn’t get a clear view of the
sea. The temperature announced in Jan’s
wake-up call was forecast to be above freezing and thus warmer than the day
before.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
After breakfast I picked up my
laptop and met in the bar with Thomas Buechler, a member of The Best Traveled
(TBT) Club who audits and certifies that the members of the club have proof
they have visited the territories they claim on the web site. Thomas had contacted me in February about the
audit and I didn’t have the time to spend on completing it and since my
documentation is primarily in various forms (pictures, flight records, and
journals) on my laptop we agreed to complete the audit on the cruise. He found a couple of places where I didn’t
understand where the territory was actually located and had guessed that I had
been there years ago that I removed from my count but overall I passed the
audit.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
At 10:00 I attended Dmitri’s talk
“<i>Adaptations of Animals to Extreme
Climatic Conditions</i>”. He had some
well-drawn diagrams and clear explanations, which enabled us to understand how
animals in Antarctic conditions can survive and even flourish with feathers,
fur and blubber to provide the necessary insulation from the cold environment.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
The soup for lunch was French
onion without the cheese layer on top. I
sat with Bob and Cathy and told my story of the young Lieutenant just assigned
to my office in Vietnam who having heard how good the French onion soup was at
a restaurant in Saigon, visited the restaurant, ordered the soup, and after
cutting through the baked cheese on top found a mouse in his bowl. Apparently the kitchen cooked the soup in a large
pot and dished out individual bowls in a sort of assembly line operation with
the cook applying the cheese covering hadn’t seen the mouse ladled into the
bowl by the other cook.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
After lunch I returned to my cabin
and at 15:30 attended Adam’s talk on “<i>Life
and death of an iceberg</i>”. He touched
on all of them briefly (ice sheets, glaciers, sea ice) but focused dramatically
on ’The Life and Death of an Iceberg’. With examples of mechanisms from both
north and south, he helped us make sense of the ice we’ve been seeing around
us, introducing us to some official terminology and of course, talking about
why ice often looks blue.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
At the 18:30 recap in addition to
Jan’s weather forecast, Victoria gave us a short talk on Captain Cook’s
discovery of the South Sandwich Islands and Adam talked about the geology of
the region that created the islands.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
We had a tasty dinner starting
with a tuna salad followed by a delicious rack of lamb ending with Semolina pudding
for dessert.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
At 20:15 Jan showed Part 1 of the
BBC documentary “<i>Penguins: Spy in the
huddle</i>” in which the BBC planted cameras inside modes of various penguins
to room with in the colonies to photograph the lives of penguins. It was fascinating and ready provided an
appreciation on the hardships that penguins endure to live, mate and raise
their chicks.<o:p></o:p></div>
<h1>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Tuesday, March 31 2015 </span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">At
Sea<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
I awoke to my alarm at 07:30. The ship had set the clocks forward one hour
to GMT minus two hours. It is a time
zone with no major land masses in it so my Casio solar watch had no adjustment
for it. I had encountered the same
problem before on trans-Atlantic crossings.
So until the ship resets it’s time again I will have to rely on my cell
phone for accurate time.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
Just before 08:00 Jan announced
that there were some Humpback whales off the bow of the ship. As a result many of the passengers rushed out
to the deck to see them. They were gone
by the time I reached the deck so I proceeded to the dining room and found the
doors were not open and a big crowd was waiting to enter. Lynn and Bob Ihsen were among them. When the doors did open I when straight to
the buffet before selecting a place to sit and when I returned to the tables
the stewardess told me she had already poured my coffee and had set aside a
place for Bob, Lynn and myself. The two
stewardesses in our area are: Raquel Queri and Charlotte Cadiz from the
Philippines. They know our names and
what we prefer to drink at the various meals and where we like to sit. Neal and Laurie joined us and then Steve
Newcomer from West Hollywood sat at our table.
Steve was a Los Angeles City librarian for 25 years. Although he was a member of the TTC he told
me that he doesn’t attend their meetings.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
Following breakfast at 10:00 I
attended another lecture by Brent about his research in the Antarctic. He has a wealth of experience having worked
at various research stations and taking over 100 trips to the area. He gave us undisputed facts about the climate
change in the area and the impact it has had on the different species of
penguins. He didn’t get into the
political debate over how much is caused by man just showing what is happening
to the ice shelf, glaciers and sea ice both in Greenland and the
Antarctic. The migration of birds,
penguins, whales and sea lions have dramatically changed in the over 25 years
he has worked the areas.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
There was a strong Wi-Fi signal in
the Lecture Room and I cleaned up a lot of old mail which unfortunately used up
the 100mb allotment I had purchased.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
I had chili con carne and salad
with a nice little cake topped with strawberries for lunch. Bob & Cathy, Mike, Neal and Bob Ihsen sat
with me. After lunch I wrote in my
journal until there was an announcement that a lot of whales had been spotted
so I went up to the bar area and out on deck to see if I could catch a good
picture. The deck was very slippery and
I wasn’t having much luck taking a picture when they broke out of the water so
I returned to the bar area.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Don Parrish approached me and congratulated me for passing “The
Best Travel” audit. <span style="background: white;">One of the interesting aspects of this trip was
getting to know the prolific travelers in the world that were on board in hope
to set foot on Bouvet Island. I then
spent several hours talking with Don Parrish the “most traveled” person in the
world. He is a gentleman with a variety
of interests such as not only travel but he tries to average 10,000 steps per
day. He uses a Fitbit to record his
steps on a daily basis in an excel spread sheet. He showed me his spread sheet for this
year. The day we went ashore he recorded
20,000 steps. The following is his
website which is worth visiting: http://www.donparrish.com/. Bob Ihsen was included in our conversation
and has his interesting history to tell.
I never get tired of listening to Bob discuss things that relate to
history. Don told us he was related to
the man that shot President Garfield and Bob was able to quote things that he
said at his trial. They also discussed
the history of Alexander Bell. It was a
very informative and enjoyable afternoon.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At 14:00 we had a Mandatory cleaning of clothing in the bar. Because the South Sandwich Islands are a British
Overseas Territory we had to follow the British regulations for visiting South
Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. They
demand a cleaning session together with a signed bio-security form to be sent
to them before landing on the islands.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After I completed my turn vacuuming my ‘going ashore gear’
again and stowed them back in my cabin I attended a lecture by Victoria at
16:30 in the Lecture Room on: “<i>Southern
Thule and the South Sandwich Islands”.</i>
She told us about Cook, Bellingshausen, Biscoe, Bruce, Larsen and
Filchner to name but a few, all of whom braved icy, uncharted seas in order to
put another piece into the jigsaw map of the known world. Their journals reiterate how tough it was
sailing in these regions before modern technology came to our rescue. Accurate
maps were rare, and what was thought to be land often turned out to be
icebergs, mirages or products of over-active sailors’ imaginations. It proved to be a very interesting talk.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At the 18:30 recap, Jan had us sign the bio-security form
and he briefed us on the next day’s landing on South Thule Island. Adam gave a short talk on the ice we had been
observing and Dmitri ended the meeting with a short talk on the ozone holes
that form at the poles.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For dinner we had one of the best on the cruise. It started with a mixed salad with balsamic
dressing (my favorite dressing) followed by a tender roast beef and to finish
off this great combination vendetta ice cream with chocolate sauce!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
At 20:15 Jan showed Part 2 of the
BBC documentary “<i>Penguins: Spy in the
huddle</i>”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<h1>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Wednesday, April 01 2015 </span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">South Sandwich
Islands<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
I woke to my alarm at 06:00 to
shower and layout my going ashore clothes.
Jan’s wakeup call was at 06:30 and he announced that we were not going
to be able to go ashore. A minute later
he declared it was April Fool’s Day and breakfast was at 07:00 followed by a
meeting in the bar at 07:30 to discuss the landing schedule.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
The weather was above freezing
but I wore my red ski mask again because the zodiac ride can be nippy. As I waited to go ashore I viewed Hewison
backed by steep slopes of snow and volcanic cliffs reaching high up into the
clouds that swirled around the top of the volcano. I also had a fine view of Cook Island which
forms the other side of an ancient caldera.
With a clear approach into Ferguson Bay, Ortelius came to a halt and
anchored. It was an impressive scene. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
The Expedition staff went
ashore first to check conditions at the beach and the presence of
wildlife. The swell was slight so
landing would be easy, but there was a slumbering group of Elephant seals and
large numbers of Fur seals on the beach and further inland, so ‘negotiations’
for access took place.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
Once the landing spot had been
determined the zodiac I was on departed the ship and beached at the cleared
spot between the animals. I climbed a
slippery slope of smooth volcanic rocks, up to the flat plain of Hewison Point.
It was a spectacular scene – the staff
estimated some 10,000 Chinstrap penguins, most in various stages of molting
(and other rather confused birds attempting to build nests!), were within view
across the point. This was far more than
had been expected, and I made my way very carefully across the plain towards
the old field station, with a lone flagpole.
Our guides stopped us from reaching the flag pole because of the semi
buried remains of the camp. I was
surprised that there wasn’t snow on the area.
The ground was a reddish color with a lot of poop and penguin
feathers. The temperature was right at
freezing so there were some ice patches which made it a little tricky walking
and avoiding disturbance to the birds at this very sensitive time. I came very close to a few satellite groups
of molting Gentoo penguins. The penguins
were mostly Chinstrap but I did see some Gentoo wandering amongst the
Chinstrap. Some of the penguins were
molting but most of them were just wondering around. There were a large number of seals and some
charged us and we had to face them head-on and scare them back. I had been on the first zodiac of passengers
to land and stayed over an hour and returned a bit early because of a ‘nature
call’.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
When we arrived on board we
were offered a spiked hot chocolate by Dejan.
I quickly returned to by cabin, shed my ‘going ashore gear’, took care
of nature, and climbed the stairs to the bridge to continue to see the penguin
sight on shore. While up on the bridge I
read the plaque describing Abraham Ortelius <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<i>Abraham
Ortelius (1527 – 1598) was a Flemish geographer and cartographer, born in
Antwerp (then part of the Habsburg Empire).
Although his family was not especially wealthy, he was intelligent and
hard working.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<i>He
began his adult career as a map engraver and illuminator, but supplemented his
income by trading books, prints and maps.
This aspect of his work involved travelling extensively in Europe and it
was at the Frankfurt book and print fair in 1554 that he met Gerardus Mercator
(of the Mercator projection). By 1560,
Mercator had become a close, influential friend and travel companion, and had
persuaded Ortelius to become a full-time scientific geographer; in 1575,
Ortelius was appointed geographer to the king of Spain, Philip II.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<i>Ortelius
was the first person ever to underline the geometrical coincidence between the
coasts of America and Europe-Africa, and to propose continental drift as an
explanation. He suggested that the
Americas were “torn away from Europe and Africa…by earthquakes and floods” and
went on to say: “the vestiges of the rupture reveal themselves, if someone
brings forward a map of the world and considers carefully the coasts of the
three (continents).” This theory was
generally accepted in geoscience only during the second half of the 20<sup>th</sup>
century, after Alfred Wegener’s hypotheses had been support through the
discovery of a mechanism for continental drift (now called plate tectonics).<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<i>But
Ortelius is most famous as the creator of the first modern world atlas – the
Theatrum Orbis Terrarum (“Theatre of the World”). His first map was published in 1564 and his
atlas in 1570. 25 editions of his atlas
appeared in his lifetime, with 12 more after his death and the atlas was not
superseded until about 1612.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
Lunch was served at 12:30 with
Garlic cream soup, chicken ala king and apple strudel. I returned to my cabin after lunch to write a
long email describing the day’s wonderful events.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
At 16:30 in the Lecture Room Jan
gave a presentation on the “<i>History of
Whaling</i>”. It was very appropriate
and informative since we had been cruising in the areas that were heavily used
by whalers.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
Jan’s recap at 18:30 reviewed the
day’s events and Christian (the lone voice for Argentina on the staff) provided
an account of the history and destruction of the Argentine base on Thule Island. His view from the Argentine perspective was
very enlightening.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
For dinner we had a shrimp and
avocado salad as a starter and orange marinated duck breast for the main and a
bread and butter pudding for dessert.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
At 20:15 Jan showed Part 3 of the
BBC documentary “<i>Penguins: Spy in the
huddle</i>”. I returned to my room after
the show and retired.<o:p></o:p></div>
<h1>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Thursday, April 02 2015 </span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">At
Sea<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
I had set my alarm for 07:00 but
during the night I woke to the heat in the room. What a dilemma. After a week of uncomfortably cold nights
where I wore my puffy coat to bed having the portable heater on swung the pendulum
to uncomfortably warm and I had to get up during the night to turn it off,
therefore I turned off the alarm and slept until Jan’s greeting at 07:30. I was still able to shower and dress before
08:00 when the dining room opened. I sat
with Mike, Laurie, Bob Ihsen, Neal and JoAnn Schwartz. I had scrambled eggs with pieces of tomato
mixed in.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
After breakfast I returned to my
cabin until 10:00 when Victoria’s presentation on “<i>Shackleton's Forgotten Men - Ross Sea Party 1914-17</i>”. The Ross Sea party was a component of Sir
Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition 1914–17. Its task was to lay a series of supply depots
across the Great Ice Barrier from the Ross Sea to the Beardmore Glacier, along
the polar route established by earlier Antarctic expeditions. The expedition's main party, under
Shackleton, was to land on the opposite, Weddell Sea coast of Antarctica, and
to march across the continent via the South Pole to the Ross Sea. As the main party would be unable to carry
sufficient fuel and supplies for the whole distance, their survival depended on
the Ross Sea party's depots, which would cover the final quarter of their
journey.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
Shackleton set sail from London on
his ship Endurance, bound for the Weddell Sea in August 1914. Meanwhile, the
Ross Sea party personnel gathered in Australia, prior to departure for the Ross
Sea in the second expedition ship, SY Aurora.
Organizational and financial problems delayed their start until December
1914, which shortened their first depot-laying season. After their arrival the inexperienced party
struggled to master the art of Antarctic travel, in the process losing most of
their sledge dogs. A greater misfortune
occurred when, at the onset of the southern winter, Aurora was torn from its
moorings during a severe storm and was unable to return, leaving the shore
party stranded.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
Despite these setbacks, the Ross
Sea party survived inter-personnel disputes, extreme weather, illness and the
deaths of three of its members, to carry out its mission in full during its
second Antarctic season. This success
proved ultimately without purpose, because Shackleton's main expedition was
unable to land after Endurance was crushed in the Weddell Sea ice. Shackleton eventually led his men to safety,
but the transcontinental march did not take place and the Ross Sea party's
depots were not required. The Ross Sea
party remained stranded until January 1917, when Aurora, which had been
repaired and refitted in New Zealand, arrived to rescue them.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
The lunch soup was cream of
potatoes. I had a nice salad on top of
the teriyaki beef and a small square of mandarin cake for dessert.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
After lunch I went out on deck for
a phenomenal sight. First we were passed
close to several large ice burgs but what made it more unusual were they
appeared at a distance to have a dark line through the middle or on their
top. As we got closer the dark area
turned out to be Chinstrap penguins molting.
I had never seen a sight or even a picture like it. Unfortunately my camera’s 30x lens could not
take a clear picture at the distance they were from the ship. Several of the birders with their powerful binoculars
let me take a look before leaving at 14:00 for the Lecture Room to see a
Discovery Film’s documentary “<i>Encounters at
the End of the World</i>”. It documented
people who live and work in Antarctica, and captured footage of the continent's
unique locations. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
After a coffee break and a stroll
on deck to see if any more interesting ice bergs were in view I returned to the
Lecture Room at 16:30 to attend Bob Brown’s lecture: "<i>Leviathans: the Life of Whales</i>”.
Bob went into great detail on the different types of whales and how they
migrate and obtain food.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
At the 18:30 recap we were shown
some close up pictures of the penguins on the ice berg. It will go down in my mind as one of the most
memorable sights I have seen in the Antarctic.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
Dinner started with one of my
favorites: fried calamari followed by shaslick - pork skewers and pavlova with
fruits for dessert.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
After dinner I attended the movie
“<i>Paddington</i>” and retired by 23:00.<o:p></o:p></div>
<h1>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Friday, April 03 2015 </span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">At Sea<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
The ship’s clock was set forward
another hour so Jan delayed the wake-up announcement to 08:00 and breakfast at
08:30. I didn’t use my alarm because I
was not sure that my cell phone had the right time set. Breakfast had boiled eggs and sausage. I had oatmeal instead. After breakfast I returned to my room to
check email and then walked out on deck for some fresh air.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
At 10:30 I attended a lecture by
Christian titled “<i>Shackleton’s Forgotten
Expedition: the Nimrod Expedition</i>”.
I know from many of the travelers on this trip that a lot of people have
a desire for adventure but I can’t relate to the men that accompanied Shackleton
and Scott on their adventures to reach the South Pole and explore the
Antarctica. It took a real unusual
person that wanted to endure the hardships required. The Nimrod Expedition was an interesting
challenge. After the lecture I went to
the bar and had a cup of chocolate coffee.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
Lunch was at 12:30 and they served
a tomatoes and egg soup followed by various pizza. I had two small squares of pizza which was
loaded with various meats and vegetables plus my usual tossed salad. I skipped the dessert. Bob and Cathy, Lynn, Neal and Mike sat at my
table. We had a lively discussion about
Jim Webb running for president against Hillary Clinton and the pros and cons of
Jeb Bush and Ted Cruz.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
After lunch I returned to my room
and sent Judy an email. At 14:00 I went
to the Lecture Room to watch a BBC documentary titled “<i>The Secrets of Scott’s Hut</i>”.
It was very interesting since the hut is over 100 years old and there is
a project to maintain it in its original condition. The documentary also covered Shackleton’s hut
and the contrast between the two. It
tied in very well with the morning lecture on the “<i>Nimrod Expedition”</i>.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
After the lecture I returned to my
cabin and read a little bit before returning to the Lecture Room at 16:30 for a
lecture by Dimitri on “<i>Antarctic Seals</i>”. He pointed out that there 35 species of seals
in the world but only six live in Antarctica but those six make up the majority
of the world’s seal population. He
lectured on the differences of the six seals.
It made for an interesting lecture.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
I returned to my room and wrote in
my journal until 18:20 when Jan announced the recap session was about to start
in the bar. I proceeded to the bar and
stood next to Lise van Turenhout, the ship’s doctor and JoAnn. Jan informed us the ship is in a sort of
internet black hole and he has not been able to obtain a weather forecast for
Bouvet Island. The ETA to Bouvet was
estimated to be Sunday.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
For dinner they served a vegetable
spring roll over a rice noodle salad.
The main course was chicken breast wrapped in bacon. I sat with Lynn, JoAnn, Laurie and the
Griffiths. The dessert was a vanilla
panna cotta.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The evening movie was “<i>Big
Eyes</i>” which I had already seen. <span style="background: white;">I had really enjoyed seeing it but I skipped it to
write in my journal. If I attended every
lecture, movie, meetings and meals there is only about three hours in a day to
read and write.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
I retired about 22:00.<o:p></o:p></div>
<h1>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Saturday, April 04 2015 </span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">At Sea<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="background: white;">The
weather turned against us. After 11 days
of really calm seas we ran into heavy seas during the night. The door to my bathroom was not tightly shut
and it started to bang during the night and woke me up so I had to stagger out
of bed to securely close it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="background: white;">Jan’s
wake-up call was at 07:30. I had skipped
taking a shower the day before so I braved the rocking and rolling to take a
shower and shave. It was tricky to hang
on to accomplish the feat and the floor of the bathroom got flooded as the
shower curtain flapped during the rolling and water sloshed out of the shower
basin .<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="background: white;">I
succeeded in finishing my shower and shaving in time for breakfast at
08:00. I joined Lynn, Neal, Laurie, Bob
Ihsen and Steve. The eggs were poached
and they had bacon.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="background: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Due to the rocking and rolling of the ship the 10:30 lecture
was moved to the bar. Bob Brown gave a
presentation on: “<i>Plankton – smallest
creatures, biggest impact”</i>. In the lecture
Bob described different groups of plankton: Phytoplankton: vast in number few
species and Zooplankton: Almost all main animal groups the most numerous
creatures on earth typical for Antarctic waters, and their role in the
ecosystem of the Southern Ocean.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Lunch was served in the dining room – different from the
usual ‘buffet’ style because of the rolling ship. They served cream of cauliflower soup
followed by spaghetti and meatballs in tomato sauce. Lynn, Mike, Bob and Cathy and Bob I sat with
me.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After lunch I ventured down to the Lecture Room at 14:00 to
see the documentary “<i>Killer Whales Up
Close and Personal</i>” a film about the life of the orca family in the waters
around the Sub Antarctic Crozet Islands.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After a break for afternoon tea, we returned to the Lecture
Room at 16:30 to attend Victoria’s presentation: “<i>A History of Bouvetøya</i>”, “<i>Essentially,
Bouvet is an ice-covered, glacier-surrounded, inhospitable lump</i>” (Rupert
Gould). She described historical events
of discovery and various expeditions that visited the island, including the
mystery of the Italian visit (or non-visit!) to Bouvet in 1959, and the even more
mysterious life boat found there in 1964.
The island has a volcano top and is 5.9 x 4.3 miles, 93% glacier covered,
with very few plants and millions of seabirds and thousands of seals.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was discovered by Jean-Baptiste-Charles Bouvet de Lozier
on January 1, 1739. He couldn’t land due
to the heavy sea and he recorded the coordinates wrong which made it difficult
for others sailing in the area to find it.
It is considered the most remote uninhabited island in the world.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
During the 18:30 recap, Jan informed us about weather
predictions for the next two days and tried to give us an approximate time of
arrival at Bouvet Island. To finish off
the recap session, Brent showed a few videos of his travels in the Antarctic
Peninsula region - featuring avalanches, collapsing icebergs and a
highly-stressed Adelie penguin escaping from orca.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At dinner I sat with Lynn, Mike, Bob I and the
Griffiths. They served a marinated
antipasti platter, grilled beef medallion "Normandy" and Swiss roll
with strawberry sauce for dessert.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After dinner, I watched the 2010 film: Ghost writer which I
had seen before but forgotten the plot and ending. It was about a gifted author hired to
ghostwrite the memoirs of a controversial former British Prime Minister becomes
a hunted man when he uncovers explosive secrets about the past.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Before bed we had to change our clocks and watches again - one hour forward. It was the last time on the cruise. From April 5th on the ship would be on Greenwich Mean Time.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white;">During the cruise Frank
Reiner took a poll of the passengers and discovered half (34) of the sixty
seven passengers were members of the Traveler’s Century Club. He also gathered statistics on the other two
major travel clubs: The Most Traveled People (MTP) had 22 members on board and
the Best Traveled (TBT) had 15 members. .<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Passengers on board: 67<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Members of travel ‘clubs’:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Traveler’s Century Club (TCC): 34<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
The Most Traveled People (MTP): 22<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
The Best Traveled (TBT): 15<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
No club affiliation: 26<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Natives of 23 different countries - From the US ten are from
California, 5 from LA, 2 San Diego, 3 three from northern California including
the TCC National Treasurer (JoAnn). <o:p></o:p></div>
<h1>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Sunday, April 05 2015 </span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Easter Sunday at sea in the Antarctic<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
Since the ship’s clock had been set
forward another hour , Jan delayed the wake-up announcement to 08:00 and
breakfast at 08:30. I awoke to Jan’s
announcement, showered and shaved, dressed in a white shirt and proceeded to
breakfast. I arrived before the doors
were open and there was a basket of candy eggs on the reception counter. Once the door opened I saw the staff had set
the tables with colorful napkins, many with pictures of colorful Easter eggs
printed on them. Each place setting had
a small plate with a chocolate Easter egg on it. The breakfast eggs were fried on a slice of
ham on top of a muffin. I sat with the
Griffiths, Bob I and Bob B. Bob and
Cathy arrived and asked us to wear our Advantage Travel shirts for the day.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
I returned to my cabin, changed my shirt and read until the
announcement for the 10:30 lecture by Dimitri on “<i>The Origin of Whales</i>”.
Dimitri discussed the two basic types of whales, those with teeth and
those with baleen that enables the whale to take big gulps of water full of
krill and push the water through the baleen keeping the krill in their
mouth. He also talked about a bone in
the ear of whales that is also found in human beings is the thread between the
bones of ancient animals and the whales of today.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Due to the rough seas we had a served lunch of carrot and
ginger soup followed by beef ragout over pasta and a small square of chocolate
cake. I sat with the Griffiths, Bob I,
Mike and Laurie.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After lunch I read in my cabin until the 14:00 Documentary which
was titled “<i>BOUVETØYA - The Last Place on
Earth</i>” about a February 2012 expedition on the M/V Hanse Explorer by Jason and Bruno Rodi. A description of the documentary is as
follows:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<i>“They
have climbed the highest mountain on every continent and walked across deserts
of snow to the North and South Poles.
Now, father and son are sailing across some of the toughest oceans to
the most remote, unexplored place on Earth – Bouvet Island. Jason Rodi, a
filmmaker, joins his father Bruno, a globetrotting explorer, on a remarkable
adventure to a volcanic land mass located in the heart of the Antarctic
Ocean. On Bouvet Island, Jason and Bruno
trek to the summit and plant a time capsule, a titanium tube filled with
messages from around the world. The content
of the time capsule, like the challenges facing them on their journey, make THE
LAST PLACE ON EARTH – a dramatic quest, a stunning documentary that combines
wildlife, human adventure and a distinct global message.”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
It was a fascinating story and
interesting that they climbed to the top of the island’s mountain to plant a
time capsule with messages to their descendants. Before I started the trip I was lead to
believe that the last group to land on the island was in 2006.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I returned to my room to ponder about the documentary and
why people would take the time and effort to plant the time capsule on the
mountain. Our ship was full of people
that just hoped to set foot on the island and walk around abandoned buildings,
penguins and seals and not take the effort to climb the mountain and plant a
time capsule.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Soon it was time to return to the Lecture Room for Bob
Brown’s lecture at 16:30 on “<i>Antarctic -
Arctic What's the difference?</i>”. It
is interesting to think that if the ice all melted where there would be land
and where there would be sea. The other
thought provoking issues are why Polar Bears are only in the Arctic and not in
the Antarctic and why Penguins are only in the south and not the north.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Bob and Cathy hosted a Easter Celebration in their cabin at
18:00. Cathy had candy Easter eggs and
other “goodies” for us. The party moved
to the bar at 18:30 to attend Jan’s daily recap which was demoralizing. The weather report was not encouraging but
they would continue to circumnavigate the island the next day in the hope of
finding a calmer sea to launch the zodiacs.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was a dejected crowd that left for dinner at 19:00. The dinner picked up our spirits. Cathy had reserved the back two tables of the
Advantage Trave group. We all wore our “Bouvet
or Bust” shirts and had bottles of champagne. The meal started with a Brie cheese with
cranberry sauce, followed by a rack of lamb and English trifle for dessert. The movie they selected for the evening was
another excellent one I had seen: “<i>The
Best Exotic Marigold Hotel</i>”. I was
behind in writing my journal so I skipped the movie and returned to my room.<o:p></o:p></div>
<h1>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Monday, April 06 2015 </span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Bouvet
Island – Day 1<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
I awoke to my alarm at 06:00. The ship was rocking and rolling. The window was covered with condensation and
I wiped an area to see through the dirty window the island of Bouvet with the
moon emerging from a orange covered top of the mountain. How I wish I had a clean window to capture
that picture. I tried to quickly dress
but on the outside chance we would be able to go ashore I put on my long johns,
rain pants and boot socks. By the time I
finished and climbed up to the bar area the deck was crowded with passengers
taking pictures of the island. The moon
had disappeared but the view was spectacular.
Unfortunately, there was a hurricane force wind making it difficult to
stand on the deck to take steady pictures.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We were close but so far away. The wind was so strong that Jan didn’t even
try to launch a scouting party to survey the islands to determine if there was
a sheltered location to land the zodiacs.
Disappointed I returned to my cabin for a few minutes before the Hotel
Manager reminded us that the dining room was open for breakfast. I proceeded to the dining room and very few
people were seated. The table I usually
sat at was full with my Advantage Travel colleagues but Mike was sitting by
himself at a table and I joined him.
Soon the twins joined us, Mike left and Laurie took his seat and Neal
joined the table. They had poached eggs
and sausage in the buffet table. We
talked a little about ‘lists’ and the various rules that the lists have. The twins belong to the TCC but not the other
two lists. It is a funny game that the
participants play on the list to outscore each other. Before the cruise I had never looked at the
lists as earning “points”. I had just
counted how many destinations they had and how many I had visited. They provided me with objectives to achieve,
so to have even gotten within two miles of Bouvet was an accomplishment for me
to count although the list purest would not count it because I had not set foot
on land. So what?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The twins left and I briefly sat with Frank Rainer. He told me that from his standpoint he got
close and would not spent the effort to return just to set foot on the
island. He has just Diego Garcia left to
visit on the TCC list and is resigned to the fact that until the British start
allowing visitors to the British Indian Ocean Territory (Chagos, Arch, Diego
Garcia) he will never visit all the TCC destinations anyway.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I returned to my cabin and changed into my normal shipboard
clothes and wrote in my journal. The
ship started to circumnavigate the island so I went up to the bar and out on
the deck to take pictures of the various sides of the island. At one point Jan announced that we should be
able to see the Norwegian Meteorological Station. I could not see it with the 10x lens on my
camera but Brent was there and lent me his binoculars. It was painted white so with the binoculars I
could see it.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I had a nice discussion with Harry who I had been told had
researched the web to find all the people that claim to have visited all the UN
member states and he thinks the list is about 105 people. When you think of the number of people in the
world and even the number of people that travel outside their home and their
country it is still a very elite number.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As the morning progressed the ship continued to
circumnavigate the island enabling us to take pictures of all sides of the
island and in various shades of light.
Some sides had more bird activity than other sides. I returned to my cabin and read wondering why
the stewards had not made up my room.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At noon Jan called us to the bar for an update on the
situation. As I left my cabin I noticed
that I must have bumped the “Do Not Disturb” switch on a previous coming and
going and that was why the stewards did not make up my room. Oh well, I could make my own bed. Up in the bar Jan told us that the forecast
was not any better and he was waiting for official word from Oceanwide
Headquarters to abandon any attempts to land on Bouvet and cruise on to Gough
Island. Of course many people were
disappointed but we had been able to take pictures of all sides of the island
and since there were no wide beaches all we missed by not riding ashore was the
opportunity to get soaked by the surf.
My solution was the diehards should take a shower with their going
ashore clothes on and take credit for a landing.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The meeting adjourned and I glanced at my watch to see the
time and found my solar watch had stopped working. I held it up to a light and up to the window
but the display was blank. I removed it from
my wrist, set it on the rubber mat on my desk and went to lunch.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For lunch I had breaded fried chicken with corn on the cob,
warm potato salad and made my own salad.
It was a tasty lunch and I sat with Lynn, Bob I, Mike and the
Griffiths. When I returned to my room my
watch was working. Go figure? I guess it was trying to find the radio
signal to update the time.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At 14:00 I attended a documentary titled: “<i>Fur Seals - The Dark Side</i>” about how
playful and talented Fur Seals can be in a “Sea World” setting but how they
attack and rip apart penguins to obtain their food. It showed that the sea floor near islands
that are the home for fur seals are littered with the skeletons of
penguins. Attendance was low in the Lecture
Room and I dozed off more than once during the show.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After the show Jan called another meeting in the bar. He showed us the weather forecast in six hour
increments that indicated the winds are scheduled to diminish and at 06:00
Tuesday they will be favorable. The wind
charts don’t indicate the sea swell but Oceanwide Expeditions had decided we
should stick around Bouvet and try to land Tuesday morning. It was interesting that the disappointment
displayed in the morning did not change to glee on the announcement that we
still had the possibility to go ashore.
I guess most everyone was resigned to passing the opportunity to set
foot on Bouvet.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The afternoon lecture was cancelled and I returned to my
cabin to read and wrote in my journal until 18:00 at which time I went to the
bar to socialize until Jan gave the daily recap at 18:30. He showed us the weather map with displayed a
period of calm winds heading in the direction of Bouvet Island. The forecast provided some guarded optimism
for changes to land on the island Tuesday morning. His major concern was the swells and the surf
crashing on the shore which would make it difficult if we did land to re-launch
the zodiacs to return to the ship. He
also told us that the ship was going to turn at 22:00 and it would be buffed
during the turn so we should secure any loose items in our cabins.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For dinner they served an Asian style Duck salad with Orange
dressing and fillet of Plaice on tomatoes with roasted potatoes. Dessert was a delicious Apple and banana
crumble with vanilla ice cream. I over
indulged and accepted a second when the waitress was handing them out. I sat with Bob and Cathy, Neal and Phillips (Flip)
Connor. Flip lives in Singapore and he
was telling what it is like in this day and age to live there. We talked about my first visit in 1971 on a
weekend from Vietnam and how rural Orchard Road was back then and how it
changed when I worked there in 1984 and again how it restricted traffic by the
time Judy and I visited in January of 2001.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The movie that night was the “<i>Hundred Foot Journeyl</i>” another I had seen, so I skipped it to go to
bed early. I was asleep when Jan
announced at 22:00 that the ship was going to turn. I felt a few bumps but none of the objects in
my room or bathroom flew around.<o:p></o:p></div>
<h1>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Tuesday, April 07 2015 </span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Bouvet
Island – Day 2<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
I awoke to my alarm at 05:30 and
went out on deck to photograph the color of the sunrise. It was not very cold outside but there was a
strong wind and heavy swells. The moon
over the island view that I had seen the day before was not there that
morning. I took several pictures and one
showed the color of the sun rise but the color disappeared rapidly and I just
saw the island with its white top and black cliffs. I could see that the surf was breaking with
fury on the edge of the island. The wind
had diminished but the swells were still high.
I returned to my cabin to shower and shave and don my ‘going ashore’
clothes, just in case they determine that there is a sheltered area where it
would be safe to land and more important be able to safely launch the zodiacs
in the crashing waves to return to the ship.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
There was a light turnout for
breakfast. I skipped the eggs and meat
and settled for oatmeal and fruit and sat with the Griffiths, Laurie, Lynn and
Neal.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
After breakfast I proceeded up to
the bar and out on deck to take some more pictures of the island and then
returned to my cabin to read. The
stewards cleaned the cabin and changed the bedding. At 09:00 Jan summoned us to the bar and
announced that they would not attempt to land and the ship was going to depart
the island and head to Gough Island four days away.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
At 10:30 I watched a documentary
titled “<i>Survival Island</i>” in the Lecture
Room. It was filmed on one of the South
Georgia Islands and focused on the life of Elephant Seals and a large colony of
penguins. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
For lunch we started with tomato
soup and then made our own hamburger with French fries and fruit cocktail for
dessert. I sat with Mike, Bob I, Lynn
and the Griffiths. After lunch I read
and wrote in my journal.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
At 14:00 Jan showed us a BBC
documentary on: “<i>Part 1 Rise of the
Continents-Americas”</i>. The first part
was about the creation of North and South America splitting away from Africa
and Europe as separate continents and then the action to join them
together. The documentary showed how the
rivers in South America initially flowed into the Pacific and as the plates
collided creating the Andres Mountains the rivers then flowed into the
Caribbean and eventually to the Atlantic.
It was very interesting with the Geologist going into the silver mines
to prove his findings.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
Afterwards I read and wrote in my
journal until 16:30 when Victoria gave a lecture on “<i>The History of Gough Island”</i>.
Following her lecture I climbed the stairs to the bridge and was able to
take some colorful photos of the sunset.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
Bob and Cathy hosted a get together
in their cabin at 18:00. Bob led a
discussion on whether our circumnavigating of Bouvet Island without setting
foot on it should count as a TCC destination.
He plans on raising the issue with the TCC board and he asked us if
there were other locations that should be put in the same category. Diego Garcia was one that some of the people
think should be in the same category but my thinking is the British would not
allow a vessel to circumnavigate it any more than letting tourist go ashore.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
At 18:30 we adjourned to attend
Jan’s recap meeting in the bar. Jan told
us the weather report on the cruise to Gough Island is mixed. We will have heavy winds against us followed
by a tail wind. Bob Brown followed Jan
with a short presentation on “<i>Why
penguins don’t fly: lessons from the great auk</i>”. He discussed the ancestors of the penguin and
how they flew but made the point that weight of the penguin made it more
appropriate to being able to dive deeper than the birds that feed from the sea. He finished at 19:00 and we adjourned to the
dining room. I sat with Neal, Bob
Bonifas and Bob and Cathy.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
Dinner started with saffron
risotto with scallops. I only had one
scallop on my plate. For the main course
I had baked fish on a bed of Chinese cabbage with steamed rice. Dessert was a scoop of chocolate and a scoop
of strawberry ice cream. Towards the end
of the meal Bob Parda, Neal and I got into a lively discussion about gun
control.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
I returned to my room and answered
email from Judy, wrote in my journal and retired early because the movie was “<i>The Imitation Game</i>” which was another
movie I had already seen.<o:p></o:p></div>
<h1>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Wednesday, April 08 2015 </span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">At Sea<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
We had reached the half way point of
our cruise, with fifteen more days on the ship.
I awoke a few minutes before my alarm which I had set for 07:00. The ship was still rocking and rolling with
occasional loud bangs as the waves hit the ship. I managed to shower and shave while still
hanging on to a grab handle in the shower.
Jan’s wake-up call was at 07:30.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
When I went down to breakfast at
08:00 there was not a crowd. I sat with Bob
Bonifas, Bob I, Lynn and Laurie. The
eggs were scrambled and the meat was a sausage the color of a hot dog. I passed on the sausage and got a slice of
cheese and a slice of ham. I asked Bob B
if he knew the young US Representative from Illinois that just resigned. He told us he did and it is a shame because
he was a bright guy that made some bad choices.
Bob then started a discussion on Illinois politics. A special election was being held in Chicago
to challenge Ron Emanuel as mayor. Bob
said that the man running against him was a Teacher Union candidate and that
the high cost of teachers and public employees is sinking Illinois and Chicago
budgets. Of course sitting across the
table from Bob B were Lynn, Laurie and Bob I, all three teachers. It was a lively discussion with no
conclusion.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
I returned to my room and was
happy to get an email from Judy and one from Wendy. Wendy sent me the details on the Red Sox’s first
game of the season which they beat Philadelphia 8 to nothing and hit four home
runs. It was a good start for the
season.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
I sent out some emails and then
wrote in my journal and read. At 10:30 I
attended a lecture by Christian he titled “<i>Birding
en route to Tristan da Cunha</i>”. I was
surprised that he profiled so many different birds and one of the passengers asked
how so many variations of the same species fly around in this area.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
I returned to my cabin and
finished reading a <u>Time</u> magazine.
I noticed a picture in the magazine of a uniquely designed building at a
Technical school in Singapore. I carried
the magazine up to the bar and looked for Flip to see if he knew of the
building which was designed for round shaped lecture halls. Flip was in the bar but was not familiar with
the building. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
Because of the rocking and rolling
they served the lunch. It was Penne
pasta with artichokes, sundried tomatoes and pesto. I sat with Bob and Cathy, Neal and the twins. For dessert they served a berry compote which
we all thought was too tart.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
After lunch at 14:00 they showed
the BBC Documentary “<i>Part 2 Rise of the
Continents-Africa”</i>. The documentary
predicts that at some point an area of Africa in the Djibouti, Ethiopia,
Somalia, Kenya and Tanzania will split from the rest of the continent. Of course it will not occur in my lifetime.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
After the lecture I invited Laurie
to see how easy it would be for her to record her travels on the MTP list. We went over the list on my laptop and easily
checked off over 400 destinations and that did not include Russia, China,
Brazil, Argentina and Switzerland’s many political areas that would require a
detailed map to determine where in her travels to those countries she actually
visited. That set the stage for the
afternoon talk.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
At 16:30 Harry Mitsidis, founder
of “The Best Traveled” web site gave a presentation on the web site. He demonstrated the unique features of the
web site which he calls a Travel Club.
At the end of the presentation he handed out calendars and a list of the
1281 that he calls regions. It was an
interesting presentation but nothing new as far as I was concerned. Although he did mention that only ten members
have been fully vetted, this would include me.
After the presentation I talked to Harry about my desire to color code
places I have worked and places I have lived on the sites map.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
At 18:00 I went up to the bar to
have my usual Bitberger beer. Jan
started the daily recap with some bad news.
Over half the inhabitants on the island of Tristan de Cunha are sick
with a virus. Oceanwide has been told
that if the ship lands anybody on the island that the ship will be quarantined
and will not be allowed to off load passengers on Ascension Island. The news did not set well with the passengers
and provoked a lot of discussion and questions that Jan could not answer.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
At dinner I sat with Neal, Laurie,
Bob and Cathy. After talking about our
bad luck we moved on to other topics discussing past trips and future
possibilities. The meal was
delicious. It started with a salmon
gravlax, followed by roast beef tenderloin with red wine sauce, roasted
potatoes and cauliflower. Dessert was a
strawberry mousse.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
The movie for the evening was “<i>Philomena</i>” which I had seen so I
returned to my cabin and wrote in my journal, answered email and retired at
22:00.<o:p></o:p></div>
<h1>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Thursday, April 09 2015 </span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">At
Sea<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
It was a strange night. The ship was rocking and rolling like the
previous nights but it seemed that the bangs were louder. They woke me up several times about an hour
apart all night. I got up at 05:00 and
found the room chilly so I turned on the space heater and went back to bed. I ignored my 07:00 alarm and stayed in bed
until Jan’s wake-up call at 07:30.
Showering and shaving was a challenge again. Things kept dropping on the
floor but somehow I muddled through.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
I was a little late for breakfast
but there were just a few people in the dining room. They served fried eggs with potatoes and
bacon. I sat with Bob I, Bob B, Lynn,
Neal and Laurie. Bob B informed us that
Ron Emanuel won the Chicago mayor’s election.
We had a lively discussion about The Best Traveled presentation. Bob I told us he had reviewed the list and
found he had traveled to hundreds of their “regions”. Bob I said he was sticking to just the MTP
list because he could not make sense of how the “regions” were defined. Laurie left to hopefully check her
email. We continued on discussing
politics. Bob B told us about his
experience attending a Supreme Court session and how the Justice’s decisions
are never leaked. The waitresses finally
kicked us out. I always enjoy eating
with the Bobs. Their conversations are
always interesting.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
After breakfast I returned to my cabin
and checked emails and responded to several.
I then wrote in my journal. I
still haven’t caught up documenting every day of the voyage.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
The morning lecture at 10:30 was “<i>The Life and Death of Volcanic </i>Islands”
presented by Adam. It was short but very
informative. Following the lecture
Laurie asked Cathy something about the Russian visa which reminded me that I
had a copy of the visa form. I returned
to my cabin and got it out. One of the
entries I have to make on the form is “List all countries you have visited in
the last ten years and indicate the year of visit.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
I sat down at my laptop and
started to compile the list. It was more
time consuming than I expected. I have
the daily itinerary but the trick was to just have the year and the country and
then eliminate duplicates.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
I broke for lunch and sat with Bob
and Cathy, Lynn, Laurie and Robin Grigg from New Zealand. The lunch option was lamb madras curry. I added a mixed salad. For dessert they had a small piece of apple
pie. The conversation centered on New
Zealand experiences.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
After lunch I purchased another
100mb of Wi-Fi and then returned to my cabin to continue my Russian visa
project. I needed to delete from my list
destinations that were not countries and add the ISO two letter code to the
list. At 14:00 I went to the Lecture
Room to see the BBC Documentary <i>“Part 3
Rise of the Continents – Eurasia”</i>.
In the documentary they predicted that eventually the Mediterranean will
disappear and Great Britain will move to the north. I connected to the Wi-Fi for the first time
in over a week in the Lecture Room and was flooded with Facebook messages. I can’t afford to open any of them because
they use up so many megabytes. LinkedIn
was another message generator but it at least didn’t have pictures associated
with its flood of messages.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
I returned to my project and
completed the list by 16:30 when Victoria gave her lecture “<i>a History of Tristan da Cunha, Part 1. Discovery, Settlement and Shipwreck</i>”, I
had received lectures on Tristan da Cunha in 2012 but I didn’t remember that it
include the history that Victoria presented.
It is interesting that for such a remote location eight families with
multiple generations have lived on the island and how they came to be there in
the first place.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
During the lecture I got a
splitting head ache and neck ache. After
the lecture I asked the doctor if she had some head ache pills. She interviewed me and gave me two pills
which I took. I didn’t think it was from
the rough sea but rather from the time I spend on the computer all day working
on the Russian visa list.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
At the recap I switched from beer
to a Bloody Mary and found it a better drink for my situation. The headache started to subside. But, then I was called out. The woman handling the flight reservations
from Ascension Island to England had sent a message that if I didn’t pay by
tomorrow she was going to cancel my reservation. I obtained her email address and returned to
my cabin and sent her different credit card details. I speculated that she had delayed processing
the card I used when I originally made the reservation and when she got around
to using it the card had been cancelled.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
In order to lighten up the
dejected crowd Bob Brown showed a BBC April fools film showing penguins flying.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
After I sent the message I went to
dinner and sat with Bob and Cathy, Neal, Laurie and Sara Wu. The menu started with Rustic Pasta salad with
roast chicken which did not appeal to me so I asked for and received a small
mixed salad. The main was a delicious
pan fried lemon sole filet with zucchini and parsley potatoes on a white wine
butter sauce. Dessert was a brownie a la
mode.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
The conversation started with a
discussion on what the US should be doing about ISIS but soon turned to a
discussion on what constitutes a country.
Bob Parda and I disagreed on whether Taiwan is a UN Observer state. I thought it was but discovered later that
its application to be an Observe state is annually rejected.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
After dinner I had a brief
conversation with Bob Bonifas on his thoughts about Rand Paul declaring his
candidacy for President. He agrees with
me that governors are better suited to be president than Senators since they
have more executive management experience, especially Governors that have had
to work with legislatures of the opposite party.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
The movie for the evening was “<i>The Theory of Everything”</i> which I had
seen so I returned to my cabin and wrote in my journal until 22:00. <o:p></o:p></div>
<h1>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Friday, April 10 2015 </span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">At Sea<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
I awoke five minutes before my
alarm was to go off at 07:00. The room
was bright as we are cruising north the sun rises earlier and even though the
sky was overcast it was a bright day outside.
The banging and rocking had stopped and the ship had just a slight roll. There were almost no white caps. I showered and shaved with little
trouble. Jan’s wake-up call announced
that the temperature was 44˚F. He
announced the wrong date and had to make a second announcement to correct the
date. I thought of Neal who complained
the day before that he would like to sleep later on sea days but wakes up to
the wakeup call and can’t get back to sleep.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
At breakfast I sat with Lynn, Bob
I, the Griffiths and Laurie. Laurie was
happy that she had been able to connect to her Gmail for the first time in
several days. Bob Ihsen kidded that he
couldn’t get his email because he doesn’t have an email account. I skipped the poached eggs and had cereal.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
When I returned to my cabin I
checked my ship email account and got a message from Ascension booking that the
credit card I sent them went through and I am confirmed on the flight to
England.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
I notified Cathy. She and Bob were having trouble getting their
email messages. I logged on to Wi-Fi and
connected but mostly received Facebook messages. I have to figure out how to turn them off because
in less than a day I have used 30 megabytes of my 100mb purchase. I logged off and returned to my cabin to
write Judy on the ship email system.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
I returned to my cabin and applied
a fresh sea sickness patch.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
At 10:30 Christian gave a lecture
on: “<i>Seabirds, the Difficult Ones on
Route to Tristan</i>”. He went into
great detail on the differences between Albatrosses. He was passionate about the subject refuting
the findings of some of the authoritative authors of books on the subject. If one was a birder which I am not you would
have to get a close view or picture to distinguish the subtle differences in
the birds. Apparently Christian has or
is in the process of writing a book on the subject and didn’t want us taking
pictures of his slides.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
The fresh patch made me a little
sleepy and I lay down in my bunk waiting for lunch. Lunch was delicious. They served Hungarian cabbage soup and the
buffet had tempura fish and home style potato wedges. I added lettuce and tomatoes to my
plate. For dessert I had a bunch of
grapes with cheese and crackers.
Overall, for my tastes it was one of the best lunches on the cruise.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
I sat with Bob and Cathy, JoAnn,
Laurie and Michel Tran. Michel is in the
Import, Export business between Hanoi and Paris. He is an interesting fellow. We often find him in the Lecture Room
listening to rock music.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
After lunch Laurie, Lynn and I met
with Cathy in her cabin to go over the information we need to fill out a
Russian visa for the Trans-Siberian trip in July. The meeting broke-up to enable us to attend
the BBC Documentary “<i>Part 4 Rise of the
Continents-Australia</i>”. After the
documentary I returned to my room to write in my journal. I had not understood Michel Tran’s name at
lunch and I went up to the bar to ask one of the passengers who I thought might
know him. While I was in the bar I was
interviewed by Sara for her survey of the people on the Expedition. Finishing the survey I returned to my cabin and
wrote in my journal until 16:30 when I attended Bob Brown’s lecture on the “<i>Wales of the South Atlantic-a Wish List</i>”. He emphasized the wales we will likely see in
the mid-Atlantic waters.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
I returned to my cabin to write in
my journal. At 18:00 I went to the
bar. They were having a special on
Argentine wines. I had a glass of
red. It was pretty good and then a
Bloody Mary. Jan gave the recap at
18:30. There was no good news about
landing on Tristan da Cunha. The weather
prediction showed a front passing out track from west to east. So, we are going to have some rough seas
again and some smooth seas.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
I joined Mike for dinner. Bob B sat next to me and across the table was
Dan and Marilynn Walker the Canadian couple that now live in Costa Rico. Next to them sat JoAnn. The dinner stated with a Herring salad and I
had Viennese Tafelspitz – boiled beef.
They served vanilla pudding for dessert.
Politics entered into the conversation.
We also talked about our adventures visiting North Korea.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
They finally showed a movie I hadn’t seen and wanted to see:
“<i>St Vincent</i>”. It had a few laughs and brought tears to my
eyes. Bill Murray was outstanding as was
Naomi Watts and Melissa McCarthy.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
I turned in at 23:00.<o:p></o:p></div>
<h1>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Saturday, April 11 2015 </span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">At
Sea<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
I awoke to a bright sunny morning. They announced that the temperature is in the
fifty’s. Last night marked the mid-point
for those going all the way to Cape Verde.
There were a lot of waves banging the sides of the ship when I went to
bed last but the sea is a little smoother this morning. I showered and shaved and went to breakfast
where I sat with Lynn, the Griffiths and Sara.
The conversation started about the movie from the night before and then
shifted to schools. Bob attended the
movie and rarely goes to movies at home.
He wanted to know who the main actors were in the movie. Instead he attends his high school athletic
events. The Griffiths also attend some
of their old high school games. We also
talked to Sara about how Hong Kong has changed over the years. Sara who lives in Kowloon told us she
occasionally visits Stanley Market but not the Tuesday night market or the
Peak.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
After breakfast I returned to my
cabin and checked my email. One of the
messages was from Wendy informing me that the Red Sox had beaten the Yankees in
the opening of a three game series in New York.
The game lasted 19 innings. What a
tiring game for the teams so early in the season.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I attended a BBC Documentary at 10:30 titled: “<i>Captain Cook, The man behind the legend</i>”. It was very informative. I had forgotten some of the details of his
life including the fact his wife burned all his correspondence which I imagine
contained a wealth of information about his discoveries.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Following the documentary I went up to the bar for a cup of
coffee with chocolate. Neal and Mike
were sitting at the bar. It wasn’t open
for drinks but I guess they wanted to keep a seat warm. Neal was drinking tea. We talked until lunch time I stopped in my
cabin and their table was full when I got to the dining room. I sat with Bob and Cathy, Laurie, Bob B and
Jan. Bob Parda asked me about the time
it would take for an Air Force aircraft navigator to take a celestial fix. This lead to a discussion on a typical
mission in KC-135s with air refueling and how air refueling was conducted with
differently designed aircraft. The
conversation with Jan was focused on Socotra Island which Jan hasn’t visited
and was surprised that my trip and Bob and Cathy’s trip to the island was so
recent (2013).<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The after lunch activity took place in the Lecture Room at
14:00 where we watched a BBC Documentary on the “<i>Science of Bones”</i>. We
watched part 1 “<i>Size Matters</i>” and
Part 2 “<i>Down to Earth</i>”. The narrator for the series was Ben Garrod, an
Oceanwide Expedition scientist. Of
course the documentaries were informative discussing aspects of bone
composition and skeleton formation that I had never learned.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I returned to my cabin, read and updated my journal until
16:30 when I returned to the Lecture Room to attend Victoria’s lecture on “<i>a</i> <i>History
of Tristan da Cunha, Part II: Visitors & Outsiders, Evacuation & Return
- A Social History of the 21st Century</i>.”
In 2012 I had attended a lecture on the island given by one of the
guides on the M/V <strong><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Plancius who had spent a year living on the island so I thought I knew a
fair amount but Victoria presented a lot of new information. She approached the subject will a detailed
historical perspective. It kind of bummed
me out that we are not going to go ashore and meet the people and hear the way
they speak.</span></strong><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Bob and Cathy hosted a get together in their cabin at
18:00. We then adjourned at 18:30 to
hear Jan’s recap in the bar. He
estimated that the ship should arrive in Gough Island waters before sunrise and
the sea will be too rough to lower the zodiacs but the Captain will get as
close as he safely can so we can take pictures of the island. We are essentially a day behind schedule so
he will not circumnavigate the island and we will continue on to Tristan da
Cunha where we might be able to make a touch and go on one of the neighboring
islands.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Dinner was a little interesting because the main choice was
either creamy seafood chowder or a rib fillet medallion with onion sauce on
pumpkin and potato mash with green beans.
When they asked for our choice at lunch, Cathy requested both a cup of
chowder and the fillet. I selected that
option. It was a very tasty choice. The dessert was lemon sorbet over fruit
cocktail. I sat with Bob I, Neal, Mike
and the Griffiths. The conversation
centered on future trips and whether they should be land or sea trips. Mike pointed out that we will have 18 sea
days before we go ashore on St Helena Island.
He doesn’t attend all the lectures and documentaries that several of us
do and finds the sea days boring. I can’t
say that I am bored during the sea days but the constant rocking, rolling and
banging is tiresome.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The movie at 20:15 was another one that I hadn’t seen
titled: “<i>My Old Lady</i>” with Kevin
Kline; Maggie Smith; and Kristin Scott Thomas.
The concept was funny and tragic and it had some funny parts but was
depressing in a lot of scenes.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After the movie I updated my journal and answered some email
before turning in at 23:00.<o:p></o:p></div>
<h1>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Sunday, April 12 2015 </span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Gough Island<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
It was a rough night. I think it was the roughest night of the
trip. I rolled around in my bed a lot
but still was asleep when my alarm went off at 06:30. Due to the rough seas I skipped taking a
shower. Jan had predicted that we would
reach Gough Island before sunrise but due to the rough seas we hadn’t reached
it yet. In Jan’s wake-up call he told us
we were still hours away at the slow speed we were traveling by due to the
heavy seas.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When I finished dressing I went outside and took some
pictures of the sunrise. At 07:30 they
opened the dining room. Bob I and I were
the first ones to enter on the starboard side.
They had scrambled eggs and sausage in the buffet bar. We sat at the first table and were soon
joined by Frank Rainer, Bob B, Lynn and Carole Ann. The conversation centered on how many sea
days we have had since last touching land.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
An announcement was made that the island was in sight in
front of the ship so after breakfast I went up to the bar. Frank had already gone up and he told me that
there was a lot of spray outside even up on deck 6. He recommended that I get my rain coat if I
planned on taking pictures of the island.
Returning from my cabin with my rain gear I went out on the deck to take
pictures of the island. The wind was
blowing up to 50 knots and the swells were up to 25 feet which had spray up to
the top decks. Fortunately as were got
closer to the island the swell diminished.
Almost everyone was out taking pictures.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Once we passed by the island I returned to my cabin and the
swells built up again. I just laid down
in my bunk and waited for lunch. They
served the lunch and even then the waitress had a difficult time serving. I sat with Bob I, Neal, Mike and the
Griffiths. The soup was crab meat and
corn which was delicious. The main was
Chinese style beef ragout. Mike was
smart and didn’t accept the main and they gave him a plate of brie cheese and
crackers. I found the lunch to be too
heavy and wished I had requested a salad plate.
Mike was cutting the outer cover of the cheese and I asked him if he
would mind giving it to me. I found it a
lot more to my liking than the ragout.
They served jello for dessert.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I returned to my cabin and read until they announced the
documentary at which time I went down to the Lecture Room. The documentary was: “<i>Science of Bones: Part 3: Into the Air & Part 4: Sensing the World</i>”. I found it educational because I had never
given skeletons or bones much thought so it was all new to me.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After the documentary I climbed the stairs to the
bridge. There were still heavy swells but
nowhere as rough as it had been earlier.
The sun was out and the wind a little less than earlier. Overall, it was the roughest sea day on the
voyage so far.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The next activity was at 16:30 in the Lecture Room. Brent Houston and Bob Brown gave a talk on
the eradication of rodents on Tristan da Cunha and Gough Islands. Since the first settlement on Tristan da
Cunha there has been a problem with rats on the island. They came ashore from ships hiding in the cargo
delivered to the island. In the 1800’s
they have been known to destroy the potato crops, the peach crops and have
developed into flesh eating predators’ feeding on the chicks and eggs of the
birds breeding on the islands. Brent
gave us facts and figures and expense that has occurred to eradicate the
rodents. In 2012 we were briefed on the
efforts to remove them from South Georgia and last year on the efforts the
Australians and New Zealanders have taken to eradicate rodents but they also
had problems with rabbits so it was not a new subject for me to listen to.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I wrote in my journal until 18:00 and then went up to the
bar. Jan’s recap included a weather map
that indicated the winds will be dyeing down during the night and hopefully the
seas will be calmer. We had to sign two
forms for the authorities at Tristan da Cunha.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Dinner started with Salmon tartar and for the main, a smoked
pork steak topped with a slice of tomato and melted cheese. Dessert was Tiramisu. I sat with Bob I, Mike, Lynn and the
Griffiths.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The movie was a Cohen Brothers movie from 2013 that I had
never heard about titled “Inside Llewyn Davis” about a singer trying to make it
in show business in the late 1950s.
Unfortunately Jan’s copy stopped before the end of the movie so we don’t
know how it turned out. Weird!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After the movie I answered email and retired at 23:00<o:p></o:p></div>
<h1>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Monday, April 13 2015 </span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Tristan da Cunha
archipelago<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
In the hopes that we will finally
touch land today, I set my alarm for 06:30.
It was still dark outside but the sea was calm. I showered and shaved, dressed in my going
ashore clothes and went out on deck. It
was light but the sun was still below the horizon. To the northeast of the bow was the
silhouette of Tristan da Cunha and on the west side three islands. The biggest was Nightingale beautifully
bathed in light. North of it was two
other islands. The larger of the two was
“Inaccessible Island” and in between was “Middle Island” which is the island we
would attempt to land on.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
After taking a lot of pictures of
all the islands I went down to breakfast.
They had hard boiled eggs and pancakes.
I sat with Bob I, Lynn, Carole Ann and the Griffiths. They had not been out on deck to see the
islands up close. I rushed through my
breakfast and went back on deck to catch the sun just rising on the
horizon. I took a lot of pictures as it
rose to be 100% clear of the horizon. It
was really beautiful with the calm sea and thin colorful clouds. I returned to my cabin to await an
announcement on the morning’s schedule.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At 07:30 Jan announced that the ship was maneuvering to find
the best place to board the zodiacs.
Even though there were no white caps on the sea he told us that there
was enough swell to make boarding the zodiacs challenging. Eventually the ship stopped and Jan announced
that we would soon be loading the zodiacs.
I donned my going ashore gear. It
was warm outside so I didn’t put on my long johns but I did wear my yellow rain
pants. When I reached the reception area
I joined the Advantage Travel group.
They were in line to board the zodiacs on the port side but at the last
minute Jan switched to the starboard side.
When we lined up on that side Laurie and Neal were together and the rest
were scattered. I joined up with them
and it turned out that we were the first group to load. Demetri was our driver. Boarding wasn’t too difficult and off we went
at 09:00 to Middle Island.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We were in the zodiac for almost three hours cruising around
Stoltenhoff Island, Middle Island and Nightingale Island. When we first reached Stoltenhoff Island there
were several TCC members on our zodiac that wanted to touch the side of the
cliffs. Jokingly I said touching doesn’t
count, your feet have to touch so they had Demetri maneuver close to a cliff
and they swung their leg around and had a foot touch the cliff. We cruised close to the Nightingale landing
location. There were a number of huts
high on a bluff and the research station zodiac beached up a grade from the
water. We stopped to take pictures of a
few Rock Hopper penguins and dozens of Sub-Antarctic Fur Seals. Up on the bluff one of the men from the
research station was looking down on us.
The seals were fun to watch and the frolicked around the rocks some
tumbling into the water. They were
mostly pups and the few older seals were making loud noises giving me the
impression that we were disturbing them whereas the pups thought it was a lot
of fun to have visitors watching their antics.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The islands had a number of caves and the cliffs and insides
of the caves were streaked with color.
Mostly red and white it made it look like Jackson Pollock had painted
the cliffs. Finally a landing spot was
found and the zodiacs took turns landing and letting the passengers step out on
land. The approach the zodiac pilots
took varied. One of the zodiac s we saw
had Flip jump out with a rope and hold the zodiac close to the rocks so it was
easy for the passengers to disembark and board.
When our turn came Demetri didn’t seem to have a plan that he
communicated to us. Joao was sitting
next to me the closest to the bow.
Demetri rammed the rocks several times so I thought one of us should
grab the bow rope and jump out and hold the boat against the rocks. Demetri yelled at me to let go of the rope
and sit back down stating that he had not given anyone permission to get
up. As I sat Joao then started to get off
the next time we beached. Demetri ran
forward and told him he was the pilot and would give the orders to land and if
Joao thought he could do better then he should be piloting the zodiac. We just sat there in shocked silence until
Demetri finally told us to jump out the bow one at a time. The rocks were a little slippery but they had
grooves as though they had been cut to provide traction. I walked around the area for a few minutes
and then Demetri ordered us back on the zodiac.
After almost two weeks we had stood up on land that wasn’t rocking and
rolling.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After the landing we continued to cruise around the
islands. At one point we traveled
between rocks and circled back through the narrow channel. I thought we would be so close to the side of
the rocks that we could touch but it turned out the channel was wider than it
appeared. We then cruised back to the
ship. We had been the first zodiac of
passengers to depart and we were the last to return two hours and fifty minutes
of cruising.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
By the time I shed my going ashore clothes and changed in to
my ship board clothes lunch was announced.
I sat with Bob and Cathy, Mike and Neal.
The buffet was open with three choices of pasta and salad. The soup was curried potato and
cauliflower. It was nice to be able to
make my own salad after the last several days of “served” lunches. For dessert I had a few grapes and some
cheese.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Following lunch Jan called us to the bar to tell us the
afternoon plans. We were cruising to the
Tristin da Cunha harbor where the plan was to deliver medicine and have them
stamp our passports unless you didn’t want the stamp. Some people didn’t want the stamp because it would
take up a full page in their passport. I
didn’t care and passed on the opportunity.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As we approached Tristan da Cunha it seemed that everyone
was out on deck either taking pictures or viewing the island with
binoculars. Don Parrish had been ashore
on the island the previous year and he told us where to look and what we were
looking at. We were first seeing the
potato fields and as we were getting closer to the settlement Jan announced
that due to the swell increasing the Captain had decided not to launch a zodiac
and instead had requested the people from Tristan da Cunha visit our ship in a
long boat and we would lower the medicine and post cards to their boat. The result was no passports would be stamped.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Four men came out to our ship in a powered long boat and we
lowered packages by crane down to their boat.
Once loaded they backed away and we started to cruise on to St Helena.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I returned to my cabin and wrote in my journal. Around 17:30, I heard a lot of commotion in
the hall. I finished what I was writing
and decided to investigate. There was no
longer anyone in the hall but it sounded like the noise makers were going up
the stairs to the bar. I returned to my
room and fetched my camera and proceeded to the bar. There I found that Cathy had organized the
ladies in our group (Beverly Griffiths, Diana Boyer, Laurie Campbell and JoAnn
Schwartz) to dress in Caribbean attire with paper flowers around their
necks. It made for a festive atmosphere.
Frank Rainer and Bob Bonifas had joined
in and a lot of pictures were taken. The
ladies sat at the front of the bar where Mike and Neal usually sit. They moved to seats on the side and I joined
them. On the bar was a closed laptop. The hotel manager arrived with a big pot of
Sangrias and he was filling classes and passing them out. I was sitting at the bar next to Mike and
Neal when a young man approached and told me I was in his seat because his
laptop was there. I pointed to an outlet
on the wall by a table and told him he could plug in there. He became belligerent and I didn’t want to
disrupt the festive Caribbean theme so I gave up my seat and moved to the other
end of the bar where there was no seat and drank my Sangria. I actually had several before dinner and one
more at dinner.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Dinner started with Fried calamari, a favorite of mine,
followed by pan fried hake filet and a French vanilla mousse for dessert. I sat with Bob I, Mike, Lynn and the
Griffiths. Lynn had not gone to the
recap and Mike explained to him the free Sangria he missed. Later they served it along with the dessert.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After dinner I went down to the Lecture Room to see the
movie “<i>The Lovely Bones</i>”. It had some good actors in it but I couldn’t
figure out the story so when nature called I returned to my cabin and retired
by 22:00<o:p></o:p></div>
<h1>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Tuesday, April 14 2015 </span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">At Sea<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
The strong headwinds and rough sea
returned during the night. There was
some moderate rocking and rolling and a few bangs that woke me up. I had set my alarm for 07:00 and planned on
sleeping through until Jan’s wakeup call at 07:30 but nature called. I showered and shaved and went out on
deck. The temperature was in the low
70’s with an overcast sky. No
opportunity to take a picture of the sunrise like I had the day before.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The breakfast buffet featured fried eggs. I sat with Lynn, Bob I, Bob B and Carole
Ann. The conversation ranged from
passport pages, dangerous cities, the beaches of Rio, to overweight children to
school lunches and discipline.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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When I returned to my cabin I transferred my pictures from
my camera to my laptop. I had taken over
200 pictures the day before, some good, many bad.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At 10:30 I attended Brent’s talk about the MS Oliva ship
wreak off Nightingale Island in March 2011.
Brent also told us about his experience cleaning up after an oil spill
from the MS Bahia Paraiso off Palmer Station, Antarctica. Then told us about the Oliva’s navigator
thinking the island was a rain squall on the radar steered right into the
island. Over 20,000 northern Rockhopper
penguins were coated in oil. They used a
swimming pool in Tristen da Cunha as a hospital to clean and treat as many
penguins as they could. As I have said
before Brent has had a lot of experience in the region and he is a good presenter.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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We returned to the sea day schedule of a buffet lunch at
12:30. I sat with Bob and Cathy, Bob B,
Laurie and Sara Wu. The soup was Pork
and Ginger. Something I had never had
before. The main course was Chicken
Adobo, a Philippine national dish which had the chicken marinated in garlic,
vinegar and soy sauce. Another first I
think for me but one I liked. Of course
since it was served buffet style I had a big salad. I was told that since we were not able to
land at Tristen da Cunha the fresh salad makings they had expected to obtain on
the island were not picked up so we would soon be running out of tomatoes and
lettuce. To go with the Asian theme the
dessert was Mandarin cake. The
conversation centered on Sara’s interviews of all the passengers. She was compiling people’s thoughts about
coming all the way and not being able to land on either Bouvet or Tristen da
Cunha. It would be an interesting study.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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The afternoon documentary at 13:30 was the final parts of
the series on: <i>The Secret of Bones</i>. Part 5 was “Food For Thought” and part 6 was
“Sex”. In “<i>Food for Thought</i>” Ben Garrod discusses how vertebrates capture and
devour their food. It is a subject I
often had wondered about how a snake could devour a larger animal and in so
doing expand their bone structure. In
“Sex” Ben described how bones play in reproduction.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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After returning to my room to read and write I returned at
16:30 to the Lecture Room to see Adam and Brent’s slide show on the “<i>September 2014 Bardabunga volcanic eruption
in Iceland</i>”. The photos were
spectacular.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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At the 18:30 recap Christian and Bob Brown discussed the
Coriolis force in the two hemispheres and the effect on wind and storms.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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At dinner I sat with Bob and Cathy, Laurie, Neal and Harry
Mitsidis. For a starter they had a decorative
presentation of a cream cheese mousse with a bread stick on top and two
walnuts, (The sous chef must had time on his hands to make the artistic arrangement
for 70 plus meals), followed by a pork
cordon bleu with potato salad and Banofee pie for dessert. With Harry at the table the conversation was
about The Best Traveled web site and club.
Harry was a very interesting traveler to talk to. It was a memorable dinner.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The evening movie was “Wild” another I had seen so I
returned to my cabin to write in my journal.<o:p></o:p></div>
<h1>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Wednesday, April 15 2015 </span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">At Sea<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
We were still cruising in a storm
so there was a lot of rocking, rolling and banging. I was sound asleep when my alarm woke me at
07:00. The outside temperature was in
the 70s but the swell high, the wind very strong at around 60kts and it was
raining. Taking a shower and shaving was
not as challenging as some of the other mornings but still not easy.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
When I arrived in the dining room
I found very few people and I sat with Bob I, Neal, Lynn, Laurie and Bob
B. The buffet had poached eggs which I
skipped to have cereal. The conversation
centered on politics since we were informed that Hillary Clinton and Marco Rubio
had declared they are running for President.
The discussions also touched on immigration policy.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
Following breakfast I returned to
my cabin to check email and send some emails.
Wendy sent me an email that informed me that the Red Sox are off to a good
start.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
At 10:30 I attended Bob Brown’s
lecture on an overview of Atlantic Islands.
He showed us the different wild life on the islands that are so remote
from Africa, South America and each other.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
Just before lunch I checked with
Robert, the Hotel Manager on the status of my Wi-Fi account. I had received a message when I tried to
login that my account had expired.
Robert told me that I still had around 25mb left and that sometimes if
the Wi-Fi signal is weak the message appears.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
At lunch I sat with Bob I, Mike,
Lynn and the Griffiths. Due to the rough
sea it was a “served” lunch of Nasi Goreng, Indonesian stir fried rice with
chicken, shrimp and vegetables. It did
not appeal to me and asked if they could give me a salad plate. After the waitress researching it I was
informed that they finally run out of lettuce.
So I got an apple and orange from the fruit basket and ate that for
lunch. They served Orange Sherbet for dessert. The conversation was about income taxes and
what aspects of travel could be deducted by school teachers.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
The afternoon documentary at 14:00
was: “<i>What Darwin Never Knew</i>”. It was interesting that with the advent of
DNA researchers have confirmed Darwin’s findings and have expanded it to a
whole new level to prove how species have developed over the years with almost
identical DNA. Just a switch here and
there or the small addition makes a big outward change in the evolution.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
In place of the 16:30 lecture they
scheduled Team Trivia. Our team
“Advantage Travelers” was composed of Bob Ihsen, Lynn, Neal, Laurie, Diana and
I. We won. I didn’t contribute any correct answers and
contributed one wrong answer. Bob, Neal
and Diana were heavy contributors of the correct answers.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
Following the completion I went up
to the bar. They were having special
drinks but I stuck with drinking Bloody Maries.
At Bob Parda’s request I showed Bon Bonifas the detailed booklet that
Bob and Cathy produce for each person on each trip arranged by them. He was amazed at the detail they put into the
document. The bar had run out of
snacks. They had planned on adding fresh
provisions at Tristan da Cunha which due to the epidemic on the island was not
possible.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
At the recap Jan showed us a
weather forecast which indicated the sea would get smoother during the night.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
The dinner was described as
BBQ. On the M/V <strong><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Plancius</span></strong>
the BBQ night was outside and we sat at folded tables and the meat, corn and
baked potatoes were cooked on 55 gallon drum BBQs. Because of the weather they held it in the
dining room buffet style. They had small
steaks, bratwurst, ribs, corn on the cob, and baked potato. I sat with Bob I, the Griffiths, Neal and
Mike. They served free wine and since
Bob I and the Griffiths didn’t drink I had more than one glass of red.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
The movie for the night was
“Birdman” which I encouraged everyone to see.
I skipped it and with a little buzz from the wine I turned in early.<o:p></o:p></div>
<h1>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Thursday,
April 16 2015</span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">At Sea</span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
I slept soundly for eight hours but woke before my
07:00 alarm. The sea was calmer
with no white caps but the sky was overcast.
On Jan’s wake-up call he told us that the temperature outside was in the
mid-seventies. It was a lot easier to
shower and shave than it had been.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The breakfast buffet had French toast, hard boiled eggs and
bacon. I skipped the eggs for the French
toast and a bowl of fruit mix. Our table
had Bob B, Neal, Laurie, Lynn and Bob I.
The conversation was about Broadway shows.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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After breakfast I returned to my cabin and checked
email. At 10:30 I attended Christian’s
lecture on “<i>Birding en route to St Helena
and Ascension Islands</i>”. It was not a
lengthy presentation and at 11:30 Robert announced that on deck seven they were
serving lemon sorbet and Champaign.
Almost everyone took up his offer.
On the helicopter pad they had set up folding tables but the wind was
strong which made it a little difficult and occasionally the benches would turn
over. The temperature was 77˚F and the
sky was bright with a high overcast. I
sat with Bob and Cathy, Neal and then Mike and Bob I. It was a delicious drink. We were only up there for forty minutes and
then it was time for lunch. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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The lunch buffet featured roast pork neck in mushroom sauce
and mashed potatoes. The soup was
Eggplant cream. I sat with Bob and Cathy
and Bob B. The conversation initially
was about the movie “Birdman” and speculation on the ending. Bob and Cathy had sat through it and couldn’t
understand why it was an academy award movie.
When Bob B joined us the conversation turned to the speed of the ship
and when we would reach St Helena.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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The afternoon documentary was “<i>Solar Storms – The Threat to Plant Earth 2009</i>”. It documented the research that is being
performed on the sun flares and how they affect the magnetism on earth. Based on the effect a solar storm had on
Quebec City when it shorted the main power system and plunged the city into
darkness for nine hours the researchers predicted more to hit the earth. In retrospect it didn’t happen as they
predicted.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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I returned to the lecture hall at 16:30 to participate in
Team Trivia. Our team of Bob Ihsen,
Neal, Lynn, Diana, Laurie and I tied for first place in the first quiz and then
won the runoff. They held a second round
and this time three teams tied. Again we
won the runoff. I didn’t contribute many
of the answers, but I did know Sofia Loran’s husbands name (Carlo Ponti) and in
the US states that start with “N” I contributed New Jersey, New York and New
Mexico. Bob Ihsen, Neal and Diana were over
all our best contributors. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Bob and Cathy hosted a get-together in their cabin to toast
the wining team. At the 18:30 recap Jan
showed the weather forecast and it indicated that we were heading into weather
with little wind and hopefully, calm seas.
He described the form we will have to fill out for the St Helena
Immigration processing.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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For dinner I sat with Bob & Cathy, Laurie, Paul Boelens
and Magdalena Geuze from the Netherlands.
The starter was Tuna salad and the main course was honey glazed duck
breast. One of the guests had a birthday
and they delivered a small cake to her table with all the wait staff singing
happy birthday. In the process they
forgot to serve dessert to our table and everyone was leaving and they came
around to see if we wanted more tea or coffee and then realized the omission.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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The movie was one I hadn’t seen titled “Now You See Me” with
Mark Ruffalo, Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine.
So I went and found it to be very entertaining.<o:p></o:p></div>
<h1>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Friday, April 17 2015 </span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">At Sea<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
It was a strange night. The ship moved into calm seas and I woke up
several times wondering what happened to the rocking and rolling. Jan told me at breakfast it was the calmest
night of the trip. It was nice to shower
and shave without having to hold on to a grab bar.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I had to retrieve my passport from the front desk and fill
out an immigration form for landing at St Helena. We were due to arrive Sunday so we still have
two full sea days to go.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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The breakfast buffet featured scrambled eggs, baked beans
and sausage. I sat with Neal, the
Griffiths, Bob Brown and Ginette Vachon.
The day before was Ginette’s birthday and when they delivered the cake
and sang Happy Birthday most of the people in the dining room didn’t know her
name.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I returned to my cabin to check email and update my
journal. Jan announced that he was
repeating the documentary on “<i>What Darwin
Never Knew</i>”. I skipped it and walked
out on deck. When I reentered the bar
Jan was getting a cup of coffee and we chatted.
He told me he was going to rendezvous with his family in Portugal after
he leaves the ship in Cape Verde. He
will have a short time before he goes out again on a charter to islands in the
Arctic area that he hadn’t visited before.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I attempted to logon to Wi-Fi and discovered my megabytes
were expired. This cruise has been
frustrating for my use of Wi-Fi. Every
time I was able to connect I would get disconnected before I was able to
perform any action yet large amounts of megabytes would be used. It appears that Facebook was using up large
chunks. Some of the newspaper
applications were also using up large chunks and I could not turn off the push
unless I was logged in and I kept getting disconnected before I could turn off
the push.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At 10:30 I attended a presentation by Brent on Freak
Waves. Brent had been on a ship that was
hit by a freak wave and he showed pictures and told us about his experience and
then showed a BBC documentary on “<i>Freak
Waves</i>”. It was kind of scary stuff
because they are unpredictable.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Lunch was tomato and egg drop soup, sweet and sour pork over
steamed rice with butter cake with Nutella icing for dessert. I sat with Bob and Cathy and Bob B. The conversation was about the Freak Waves
presentation which we had just attended.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At 13:30 we assembled on the helicopter pad for group
photos. First they took a picture of all
the passengers, then TCC members, TBT members, MTP members, 2012 alumni from
South Georgia, and finally Advantage Travel passengers. The sun was bright and it was windy so the
men and woman with long hair had it flying all over the place.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Following the group picture taking I attended the BBC
documentary on “<i>The Transit of Venus</i>”. An event that rarely happens and how it
helped in defining our universe. It
raised some questions about the possibility of life on other planets.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At 16:30 Bob Parda gave a lecture on “<i>Techniques and Tools of the Early Navigators”</i>. It was well received by those who
attended. Following Bob’s presentation I
went to the bar to attend the daily recap.
The forecast was to continue to have good weather and we should arrive
in St Helena Sunday morning. Bob Brown
gave us a short presentation on flying fish that some of the passengers had
seen during the day.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I sat with Bob and Cathy, Laurie and the twins at dinner. They served a mini pizza followed by pan
fried trout filet with a potato pancake and cream spinach. Dessert was chocolate pudding. I was sitting at the end of the table while
the twins were at the other end and I didn’t catch a lot of the conversation.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The movie was “The Wolf of Wall Street” which I had seen so
I skipped it and returned to my cabin.
Judy had sent an email that I responded to. After checking my email I went up to the bar
and copied the group pictures to a thumb drive.
I stayed for a while talking to Dr. Lise van Turenhout and Elliot about
the TCC, travel into Mogadishu and Saudi Arabia. <o:p></o:p></div>
<h1>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Saturday, April 18 2015 </span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">At
Sea<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
It was a smooth night. I woke up exactly eight hours after I turned
out the light the night before. It was
before my 07:00 alarm. I lay there
enjoying the gentle roll of the ship until the alarm sounded. It was a bright sunny day with some clouds
but the sea had no white caps.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At breakfast I had pancakes and sat with Lynn, Bob I, Bob B
and the Griffiths. Bob B had watched the
movie “The Wolf of Wall Street” the night before and told us very few people
stayed to the end of the three hours. We
talked about movies, visiting Iwo Jima and Wake Island, “Unbroken” and how Bob
B got into the Security business.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I returned to my cabin and wrote emails to Judy and Wendy.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
The effectiveness of my patch must
have diminished because I started to have a head ache again so I visited the
doctor and obtained some Paracetamol tablets which cured the headache.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
I attended Victoria’s lecture on “<i>A History of St Helena minus Napoleon</i>”. Although St Helena is generally known to the
world as the “prison camp” for Napoleon, Victoria that she should first tell us
about the island both before and after the period of his imprisonment and then
Bob Brown will lecture us on the period of his imprisonment later in the day. The island has had a turbulent history and I
found it odd how different it was compared to similar islands like Bermuda and
the British Caribbean islands. Victoria
implied that a lot had to do with the talents and personalities of the
Governors in charge of the islands. They
didn’t have much luck with strong intelligent leaders assigned as Governors of
the island.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After the lecture Jan announced that we were to return our
boots to the Lecture Room. It was a sure
indication that the trip was nearing the end.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
They “served” lunch.
I don’t know why because the ship was not rocking and rolling. The soup was Cream of zucchini and the main
was Beef lasagna with tomato sauce. For
dessert the served Mandarin cake. I sat
with JoAnn, Laurie, Bob and Cathy. We
talked a lot about Costco. Laurie’s
Costco is reported to be the busiest in the chain. We also talked about Asian Markets and Howard
Johnson and their clam and lobster rolls.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The 14:00 documentary was “<i>Earth Under Water”</i>. It
discussed what would happen to the world if all the ice melted. One scientist predicted that building
barriers to hold back the rising sea would be one of the major employers of
people in the future. They predicted
that there was not much that can be done to save Miami and it will be difficult
to save New Orleans, but surprising to me they predicted that California could
be saved by building a dam across the Golden Gate and the Mediterranean cities
saved by a dam between Gibraltar and Africa.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After the documentary I was interviewed by Harry for a “The
Best Traveled Magazine” published each month on the TBT web site.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We then had a very interesting lecture by Bob Brown on “<i>Napoleon & St Helena”</i>. He actually covered all of Napoleon’s life
leading up to his imprisonment on the island in addition to his life on the
island. It was a lot to cover in a
little over an hour.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After the lecture I went to the bar and talked with Bob B
and Bob Parda until Jan gave the recap which was more of a talk on the next day’s
schedule and activities on St Helena.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Dinner was smoked salmon tartar, roasted lamb loin and mango
mousse. I sat with Neal, Bob and Cathy,
Mike and Laurie. Again I was on the end
and didn’t get deeply involved in the conversation until there was a debate
over who was on Bob, Cathy and Mike’s trivia team the first day. Mike and Bob thought it was Harry. Cathy didn’t think so. Some bets were made and to help solve the
argument I got up and went around the corner to where Harry was sitting and
asked him if he had participated in team trivia. His answer was no. When I returned and told the group Cathy was
excited and whooped it up. The table
next to us where Lynn, Bob I, Bob B, the Griffiths and Diana were sitting
complained that we were making too much noise.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After dinner I attended the movie “<i>All Is Lost</i>” with Robert Redford.
It is interesting in that he is the only actor in the movie and he
doesn’t speak any lines.<o:p></o:p></div>
<h1>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Sunday, April 19 2015 </span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">St. Helena<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
I slept soundly until 04:30 and
thought why am I awaking at this time?
It seemed like just a few minutes passed and my alarm went off at
06:00. There was a beautiful red and
orange sunrise by a bank of clouds covered the sun itself. I showered and shaved with little trouble
even though we were still cruising toward St Helena Island. Since we were going ashore I dressed in my
travel clothes which meant a Royal Robins shirt with hidden pockets and North
Face pants that I could zip off the bottom half of the legs to turn into shorts
if it was too warm ashore. I put my
passport and money in a hidden pocket to go ashore but I could not find a copy
of my insurance.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
Breakfast was at 07:00. I had a bowl of cereal and ate with Bob I,
Laurie, Lynn and the Griffiths. I asked
if anyone had seen the movie “All Is Lost”.
Laurie had so she skipped watching it the night before. Lynn asked me why when he deletes an email on
his desktop it is still on his iPad so we had a little discussion about emails
and smart phones. All the others at the
table still had flip cell phones and don’t receive email on their phones. As we were sitting there I was showing
Beverly my smart phone email folders when the thought hit me that I might have
a copy of the insurance form in my email.
Sure enough the insurance had been revised just before I left on the
trip and I had not printed it out which is why I couldn’t find a copy put it
was visible in my email.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I returned to my cabin and waited for the announcement to
pick up our lunch. When they announced
that we could pick up our lunch I went down and retrieved it. Back in my cabin I packed my water proof back
pack with the lunch and an extra pair of socks in case my feet get wet boarding
the zodiac to go ashore. I had time to
kill so I gathered up all my cold weather gear and put it in one place.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Almost everyone went out on deck to see us finally reach the
harbor and drop anchor. The M/V Plancius
was already in the harbor and I had Frank Rainer take my picture next to a life
ring with Ortelius and the Plancius in the background. I took a lot of pictures of the island and
the buildings we could see from the ship.
The sky was overcast and light rain showers intermittently passed
by. It was not looking like a good day
to sight see but after eighteen days at sea we were all anxiously waiting.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Eventually we were cleared to go ashore at 10:30. I don’t how it happened but I ended up in the
first zodiac to leave the ship. The two
ladies from the cabin next to mine on the ship (Kain Sinniger and Carin Smit)
had made arrangements to go scuba diving at 10:00 and were very concerned that
the dive boat would not wait for them.
The harbor landing area was very busy because the M/V Plancius was also
ferrying passengers to shore but HMS St Helena was also in port off-loading
cargo containers. On our first attempt
to off load passengers at a ladder we were waved off to allow us to dock at a
place with concrete stairs. The two
scuba divers were upset and then to compound their anxiety when the stairs were
clear the second zodiac docked first. We
then docked at 11:00 and climbed the stairs, dropped our life jackets and
proceeded to board a 16 passenger bus for the island tour. Five of the Advantage Travel “family” boarded
the same bus. I sat in the front row
next to Flip. Bob I and Steve Newcomer
sat in the front seat next to the driver.
Bob and Cathy and Laurie were also on the bus along with Victoria, Frank
Rainer, Harry and Thomas. The bus driver
was named Jeffrey John Joshua, owner of Joshua Taxi service.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The main part of Jamestown is bordered on two sides by steep
slopes. Our bus took us along the James
Bay water front to the Town Gate where we turned southeast through a town
square with the Court House and Library on the east side and the Museum and
Church on the west side. We rode up Main
Street to a fork in the road which we took Napoleon Street to the left and rode
up a narrow road with a mountainous
slope on our left (east side) and a low stone wall on our right. Occasionally the road widened so vehicles
coming down the mountain could turn in to let the vehicles climbing pass.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
About ten minutes into the tour we stopped to take pictures
of the buildings below. One of the
clusters of buildings had a large antenna.
Jeffrey told us that it was the communications center and that cell
phone coverage was under development on the island. Across the road to the left was a group of
houses where Napoleon initially stayed when he arrived on the island. The island administration had no advanced
warning that Napoleon was going to be exiled on the island and had to scramble
to find a place for him to stay. Ten
minutes later we stopped at Napoleon’s tomb.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The tomb was located down a long grass road to an
observation point overlooking the tomb in a flat grass circle surrounded by
slopes on three sides. In the middle of
the circle was a stone slab with a black metal fence. The following describes the area:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>Napoleon
did a few trips round the Sane Valley, just west of Longwood; the landscape
here pleased him and he enjoyed walking in it.
The valley offered a spring of pure water, which was carried to the
house in pails, and lush foliage with cannas, begonias and geranium
flowering. The views down the valley to
the sea were also beautiful, today just glimpsed through the plentiful trees. Some willows grew in the area, their leaves
trembling in the breeze, and fleshy yams added to the abundance. The impact on Napoleon was such that a few
days before he died, he confided to Bertrand “In the event that orders are
given for my body to remain in the island bury me in the shade of the willows
near the spring.”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>His
wishes were respected, and on 9<sup>th</sup> May 1821, at about midday, the
fourfold coffin was carried by eight soldiers down the rural path. General Montholon asked that the following
inscription be engraved on it in French.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
NAPOLEON<o:p></o:p></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
Born at Ajaccio August
15, 1769<o:p></o:p></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
Died at St Helena
May 5, 1821<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<i>The Governor
declined, insisting that Bonaparte be added.
So the French decided to leave the stone bare.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<i>After the
interment the tomb was guarded by sentries – simply a precaution to prevent the
removal of the exile’s body – until the day when the “Belle Poule” expedition,
sent by King Louis Philippe, restored the body to France.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<i>Extract from the
St. Helena Archives “… Everything being prepared for the important operation at
½ past 12 O’clock, in the morning of the 15<sup>th</sup> October, the 25<sup>th</sup>
anniversary of the arrival of Napoleon Bonaparte, at St. Helena, the first blow
was struck, which was to open the Grave, where He had slept the sleep of Death,
during nearly a quarter of a Century, in order that his Mortal Remains might be
carried to France, to repose, as he had so emphatically desired, in his dying
Testament, on the Banks of the Seine in the midst of the people he had so much
loved.”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Thirty minutes later we started up again to ride fifteen
minutes to Longwood House. There across
the road from the gate to the house we parked in a large grass field. On the opposite side of the field was a long
low building with the sign “Longwood Supermarket”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I crossed the road and walked through beautiful gardens to
the Longwood House front porch. There
those that had camera bags had to store them on the porch before entering the
house. No photographs were allowed
inside. We entered the house into the
“billiard room”. There was no billiard
table because it was out for restoration.
We were told Napoleon didn’t play billiards but liked to use the large
flat surface to spread out his maps and papers as he wrote his
autobiography. We had a tour of the
house led by Irene a very short lady.
She showed the bed Napoleon died in, his normal bed room, his bathtub
which he reported to spend a lot of time just relaxing in the water while he
read or wrote.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When we finished the tour many of us retrieved our
sandwiches from our back packs and planned on eating at the picnic tables near
the bus but the driver wanted to stay on schedule so we ate in the bus as he
drove to the airport construction site.
We could see the north end of the runway which started at the edge of a
cliff. The Omni Directional Radio (VOR)
station looked like it was complete near the north end of the runway. There was a hill blocking our view of the
south end of the runway so it was impossible to see the full length of the
runway and if there was a cliff at that end also. I had read somewhere that the runway is not designed
for wide body aircraft more intended for B-737-800 single aisle size aircraft.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After a photo stop we then rode past the islands on a golf
course. I was surprised to see that the
sand traps were red dirt traps. I guess the
island doesn’t have sandy beaches they could obtain sand for the golf
course. There were a number of golfers
playing as we rode by.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our next stop was Plantation House the Governor’s
quarters. There on the northeast edge of
the grounds surrounding the house was a path which led to “Butcher’s
Grave”. As we walked along the path on
the left was a tennis court which was down a slope from the house. Two of the six Giant Tortoises were seen
sunning themselves on the slope between the tennis court and the house. They each have a name and I wasn’t able to
determine which of the six we were watching.
The oldest is reported to be 183 years old and was originally from the
Seychelles.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We walked along the path to a set of steps leading down to
the Butcher’s Grave. I had spent too much
time photographing the Giant Tortoises so I didn’t have time to go all the way
to the Butcher’s Grave. We rode another
ten minutes to the top of Jacob’s Ladder.
I took a few pictures and then decided to walk down the 699 steps. It took me fifteen minutes. The Griffiths had started before I did and
Beverly’s legs gave way and she had to sit down several times but she made it
to the bottom where several people picked her up and sat her in a chair and
then carried the chair to the museum.
She recovered in a few minutes and was able to walk around the town.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I headed to Ann’s Place where there had Wi-Fi service. When I got there I found Renie and Lisa from
the Plancius having a beer with Brent.
Don Parrish was also there. I had
Brent take my picture with Renie and then I purchased an hour of Wi-Fi time and
proceeded to download emails on my smart phone.
I had over 500 cartoons, 40 Facebook postings and over 200 emails. I scanned the emails and read the important
ones. I tried to call Judy on Vonage but
it didn’t ring through. Bob and Cathy
arrived looking for Mike and I kept using my precious hour of Wi-Fi. When it ended I joined Bob and Cathy for a
beer and then it was time to return to the ship.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Dimitri was our zodiac driver for the trip back to the ship
and again he lost his cool and didn’t instruct us what he wanted us to do when
we reached the ship. This time he was
upset with Bob Parda who was sitting in the forward position and attempted to
help stabilize the zodiac when it hit the gangway. Dimitri gunned the engine and turned sharply
away from the gangway almost tipping several of us overboard. He approached again and told everyone to sit
still and then he went up to the bow and stabilized the zodiac and helped the
passengers exit the zodiac.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I returned to my cabin and took a shower. I was still soaking wet from the walk down
Jacob’s Ladder. After my shower I went
out on deck and took pictures of the immigration party boarding the ship and
then exiting the ship. I returned to my
cabin and heard the anchor chain several times and so I investigated and was
told the chain had gotten twisted and we were not departing.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Bob and Cathy hosted a get together at 18:00 in their
cabin. Bob B and Don also attended. Bob read us a draft of a letter he planned to
submit to the TCC Board relaxing the rules on physically touching a destination
to get credit when situation like we experienced at Bouvet Island a
circumnavigation of the island should count.
The letter was discussed with no conclusion.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jan’s recap interrupted the discussion and we all proceeded
to the bar to hear about the status of the ship. Jan explained that “technical problem” was
preventing the ship’s engine to start and they were working on a fix.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Dinner was a buffet with chicken breast with a mustard
coating and/or salmon filet with hollandaise sauce. I sat with the Griffiths, Lynn, Laurie and
Bob B. Bob B ordered a bottle of
Champagne which he generously shared with Laurie and I. The conversation ranged from what is wrong
with the ship to the Cuban Missile Crisis, Nuclear missiles, to unions. After dinner I went up to the deck outside
the bar to determine if anyone had thoughts on what is wrong. They didn’t and when Jan announced the start
oif the movie which is “Still Alice” which I had seen twice he told us there
was no news on the ships movement to report.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At 23:30 the ship started up again and Jan announced on the
intercom that the “technical issue” had been solved and we were on our way to
Ascension Island.<o:p></o:p></div>
<h1>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Monday, April 20 2015 </span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">At Sea<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
I woke to my 07:00 alarm and had a
tough time getting out of bed. The
muscles in my legs were cramping up from the walk down the 699 steps of Jacobs
Ladder on Sunday. The sea was very
smooth and the ship is very stable, not much different than when we were
anchored in St Helena’s harbor. I had to
look out the window to confirm that we were in fact moving. On Jan’s wakeup announcement he told us there
was a tail wind and we were cruising at almost 12kts. The temperature was 75˚F. It was an easy shower and shave with so
little motion of the ship.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The breakfast eggs were poached with a dribble of
Hollandaise sauce on top. I sat at the
front table with Lynn, Bob I and Bob B.
Bob B was discussing with the Lynn and Bob I his companies use of VW
Jetta with diesel engines which get about 40mpg. Bob I asked Bob B why it costs his historical
society $100 for their alarm company to change a battery in the building. Bob B went into a discussion on the cost of
labor. The Laurie joined us at the other
end of the table from Bob B and Lynn.
The latter two continued to discuss labor costs while Laurie and Bob I
talked about a tour in Praia that Neal had arranged through Klaus. Laurie and Bob I told me that I looked tired
which I was.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I returned to my cabin and processed email and wrote in my
journal. Jan announced a meeting at
09:30 in the bar to explain the “technical issue” that prevented the ship
departing St Helena on schedule. The
explanation was the ship’s propeller pitch was stuck in the maximum pitch
position and the mechanism to control the pitch had to be repaired.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At 10:30 Victoria presented: “<i>A History of Ascension Island Part 1 – The Early Years</i>”. Unlike other Atlantic islands Ascension was
void of vegetation and easy access to fresh water when discovered. For a long time it did not have very many
inhabitants. The British classified it
as a ship so ship’s law prevailed and any children born on the island were considered
to be born in London, England. Victoria
went on to tell us about the island’s discovery and the staining of British
Troops during imprisonment of Napoleon to guard against any attempts to rescue
him.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The ship was able to restock salad items on St. Helena so I
had a delicious lunch starting with French onion soup and a large salad with marinated
roasted chicken and ending with a bunch of grapes and cheese.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Following lunch at 14:00 we were shown two black-and-white
film clips from the 1950s and early 1960s about Tristan da Cunha – one showing
the volcanic eruption and evacuation of the islanders, the other put together
by the ‘Society for the Propagation of the Gospel’, who regularly sent
missionaries to Tristan.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At 16:30 we had another Team Trivia session and that time
our team did not win. We lost a question
regarding the ranks in the English royalty.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Dinner was a BBQ on deck at 18:30 so Jan had his recap at
18:00. He reported that the ship was
traveling at 12kts and his gross estimate was we would reach Ascension Island
during the morning of the 22<sup>nd</sup>.
Following his briefing Kain Sinniger showed some slides that she and the
ship’s chief took scuba dining at St Helena.
We then adjourned to climb up to the seventh deck where a free bar and
tables were setup for dinner. They
cooked the dinner in 55 gallon drum BBQ grills on deck 6 and served it buffet
style on deck 7. I sat with the
Griffiths, Neal and Bob I. Bob B joined
our table across from me and we talked about the upcoming flight from Ascension
to Brize Norton RAFB.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Following dinner I went to the Lecture Room to watch the
movie “<i>The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”</i>. It was a two and one half hour show so I
didn’t stay and returned to my cabin and started packing my cold weather gear
in my small suit case.<o:p></o:p></div>
<h1>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Tuesday, April 21 2015 </span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">At Sea<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
I was still feeling aches and cramps
from my walk down Jacob’s Ladder, when I woke up before 07:00. I processed email and then took a shower and
shaved. There was only a slight roll of
the ship so it was easy to keep my balance without having to hold on to the
grab bar. Waiting for breakfast to start
I continued to pack my cold weather gear in my small suit case.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At breakfast I sat with Bob B, Bob I, Lynn and Carole
Ann. The buffet was French toast and
crisp bacon. The conversation was about
the Team Trivia since Carole Ann was on the winning team.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We only had a short time before the first Lecture Room
activity which was a presentation by Kain Sinniger on Diving around the
World. She showed slides from dives in
129 countries. Following her
presentation Frank Grosse-Oetringhaus on the Peter 1st Island visit by
helicopters that took place from the Ortelius just before the leg we were
cruising on. They used Chilean
helicopters to fly passengers from the Ortelius to the island.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When I returned to my cabin I found the bill for Wi-Fi, ship
email account and drinks on the cruise.
I spent less than $10 per day which surprised me because I spent a lot
with very little return on the stupid Wi-Fi.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The buffet lunch had Corn Chowder for the soup, Beef Ragout
with rice and green salad (no tomatoes) plus the Cheese board for dessert. I sat with Neal, Mike, Bob P (Cathy was not
feeling well) and Dan and Marilyn Walker.
Dan discussed the experiences he has had driving his Rolls Royce across
Russia. We talked about Lucas auto
electrics and I showed pictures of my MG.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After lunch I went up to the bar to copy Sara’s
questionnaire to a thumb drive. While on
the computer I added Bob Bonifas to the email list and then tried to help Harold
copy the group pictures to his SD card.
Before we could complete the copy the front desk announced that 5<sup>th</sup>
deck cabins should settle their bill. I
went down and completed the transaction and returned to the bar and helped
Harold. Bob Parda arrived to copy the
files to his SD card. It took a little
finagling but we finally were able to complete both transfers.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At 15:30 they held another Team Trivia competition. We came in last. I disagreed with the answer they gave for the
US Vice President’s residence. I think
it is the Naval Observatory. They said
it was Blair House.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Christian gave a lecture at 16:30 on: Sea birds to
Extinction – the South American View.
Christian has been on the Argentina conservation committee and his
presentation was to first show us the problem of birds getting caught and
killed in fishing nets or long line fishing.
He showed statistics of the decline in bird population in the Antarctica
region. Then he described several
methods that fishing boats are being encouraged to use to reduce the danger to
birds. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After Christian’s lecture I went up to the bar to get ready
for the 18:00 Farewell gathering and toast to the Captain and staff. Jan briefed us on the next day’s activities
and handed out a schedule. He also gave
each passenger a certificate stating we had circumnavigated Bouvet Island. They added a ‘s’ to my middle name so Jan
said he will print a new certificate. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I stopped in my cabin before dinner and found Judy had
emailed me so I answered her message and proceeded to dinner. There was one seat open at the table with the
Griffiths, Lynn, Bob I and Bob B. The
served an outstanding dinner for our last dinner on the ship. It started with Sashimi followed by a Tuna loin filet on a bed of
mashed potatoes and broccoli and finished with Baked Alaska. We discussed if we should count visiting
Bouvet since we have a certificate stating that we had circumnavigated the
island. Bob B said yes to TCC but no to
MTP. Lynn said he wasn’t going to count
it and I said I would because I don’t see MTP and TBT as clubs and competition
to see can visit the most places. I see
them as a list of places to visit and just because I didn’t touch a wet rock on
a narrow beach I feel I visited Bouvet and I have a certificate to prove it.<o:p></o:p></div>
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After dinner I went up to the bar and copied the trip log to
a thumb drive and then proceeded to the Lecture Room to see Frank Rainer’s
slide show on the trip.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<h1>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Wednesday, April 22 2015</span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> Ascension Island – Day 1<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
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I woke up excited that I just
spent the last night on the ship. I
still had some packing to do. The
biggest issue with using a CPAP is I have to pack it in my suit case
first. So until I wake up I can’t
pack. The night before I did pack a lot
of items and laid them out on the spare bed so once I showered and shaved and
packed my toilet kit I could start on the main bag with the toilet kit and CPAP
first. Shirts and pants in a packet
next, then the under wear/t-shirt packet next.
The rest of the odds and ends were then stuffed along the sides and end
of the bag.<o:p></o:p></div>
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For breakfast I had a fried egg and sat with Lynn, Mike, Bob
I, Bob B and Carole Ann. The talk was
about travel experiences to Afghanistan and Iraq. When I finished eating I returned to my room
and finished packing. Then the long wait
to go to shore started.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The first announcement was to pick-up a box lunch to eat on
shore. Next we had to complete an
Arrival form and turn it in to the front desk.
The sea was a little rough and we could see high waves breaking on the
shore. After a little trouble connecting
to the gangway the Immigration Officials came on board and we were asked to
turn in our passports. Eventually we
were given back our passports and form.
The sea was still rough and the Immigration longboat could not connect
to the gangway and after several attempts it backed away and the Immigration
Officials boarded a zodiac and the zodiac took them to their long boat. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Jan and the staff boarded zodiacs to scout the landing
situation. A good sign was soon they
started to lower cargo bags full of our luggage into zodiac s and ferry our
luggage to shore. I still had my laptop
carry on and had out the straps so it was a heavy back pack. With my box lunch which was actually in a bag
and not a box I had a small backpack in my front. When we lined up to leave the ship I ended up
in one of the last zodiacs with Brent as the driver. I was happy to see it was Brent because I
consider him the best driver. Before we
went down the gangway they warned us that it might be a wet boarding and a wet
landing. Some of the people took their
socks off. I was so laden down I decided
to go with the flow. Brent was masterful
in connecting with the gangway and I was able to board with only getting a shoe
lace wet. At the dock he was masterful
again and drove the zodiac up the wall and held it there so I had a dry
landing. I then had to retrieve my
luggage and wheel it to the Customs office.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I thought I needed a form that I couldn’t locate. I search all through my paperwork and
couldn’t find it so I was the last one to clear customs. When I got to the x-ray machine I couldn’t
find my Arrival form. Eventually I found
it and was clear to go. Outside the
Customs building I waited with the group from my zodiac for the bus to the
hotel. I had been embarrassed having two
bags plus the heavy carryon but I found that the others had even more
luggage. The scuba divers had a lot of
bags and Flip had several large bags I think associated with his work. Any way it was difficult to load them all in
the bus and my biggest bag and I sat in the front seat. When we got to the hotel Lynn had already
checked in so I didn’t have to get in line to register and just lugged my bags
up the stairs to our room. We were
assigned a suite with two rooms. One
room with an air conditioner and two beds and the other room without an air
conditioner but had a desk where I set up my laptop.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The ship had arranged an island tour that started at 13:15
so after dumping my luggage in the room I waited in the lobby for the tour bus
with Lynn. Bob and Cathy joined us and a
Range Rover arrived and the driver jumped out and apologized for the
vehicles. His name was Andy and with him
was Stephon. Andy was the leader of the
tour and we rode in his vehicle. He told
us that a bus they usually use was down for repairs so his conservation staff
members were driving Range Rovers with four or five people and smaller vehicles
in a sort of convoy for the tour.<o:p></o:p></div>
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We returned to the Customs building and there were the rest
of the vehicles waiting for him to lead the way. The tour drove through the town, through the
US Air Force Base, past the Wideawake Airfield runway which had a Royal Air
Force Air Refueling plane on the ramp, through the Royal Air Force Base which
they call the Main Base out to the Wideawake Fairs where we stopped. On foot we walked down toward Shelly Beach where
the Sooty Tern (wide-awake) colony of more than 1 million breeding pairs
resides. It was quite a sight. On our left was a rocky ridge of volcanic
rock with no birds but on our right was a vast field of smaller rocks with
white bird poo and thousands of birds just sitting while thousands more flew
overhead. It looked like seagulls
swarming a garbage dump near the sea in the US.
I took a number of pictures and returned to the Range Rover.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The tour then went back past the runway and up a hair pin
road that had turns so sharp that the four wheel drive Range Rover had to stop
and back up to make the turn. The road
was leading us up Green Mountain, the high peak on the island, that Darwin
recommended be planted with trees to capture the moisture in the clouds that
shroud the mountain. His recommendation
was enacted by a series of gardeners on assignment from England. The result is a rain forest on the top of the
mountain with banana trees, Norfolk Pines, eucalyptus and other trees and
bushes. We parked next to a concrete
building that the serves as a Conservation Center. It contains a small historical museum and was
originally built to house British Marines that were tasked with gathering water
for the garrison below, and Georgetown.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Parking was a problem and some of the smaller cars had to
park along the road so some of the passengers had to walk up to the
Conservation Center. Andy then gave a
briefing on the Conservation activities and we broke up into small groups. I went with a group into one of three Green
Houses on the grounds. They experiment
by growing different plants in the local soil and see which species takes to
the soil and climate and if they do they are then transplanted around the
island.<o:p></o:p></div>
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We spent an hour at the center and then boarded our vehicles
for the trip down the winding road to the bottom of the mountain. Andy had told us that the island
Administrator lived on the mountain with his young wife and 5 children and on
the way down she passed us going up the hill with five children in the car
including a baby. She smiled and happily
waved to Andy as she drove by. It is
just a three year assignment and her husband hasn’t completed the first
year. I guess there could be worst
postings.<o:p></o:p></div>
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We rode through Two Boats Village and passed the only school
on the island. They have 92 students
across all grades. Andy’s wife was one
of the teachers. Near the One Boat Golf
Club we came upon a rock by the side of the road covered with paint. The story goes that when you leave the island
you paint the stone and if you return you die.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The golf course is reported to be the worst in the world
with rolled oil sand for greens which isn’t unique but I guess it is not up to
Armco in Saudi Araba’s standards. The
fairways are rough. Our next stop was
Cross Hill when there are four cannons with a view of Georgetown and the
harbor. Two of the cannon were actually
fired during WW II at a Nazi submarine.
It turned out it was a ruse by the Nazi’s to make the British think
there were a “wolf pack” of submarines cruising in the area when in fact there
was just the one. The result was the
British kept more ships in the area than was needed.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The area was called Fort Bedford and was constructed between
1903 and 1906. It was the most modern of
three naval forts on the island, and originally housed two six-inch guns. All of the forts were deactivated after WWI,
and their guns removed. With the start
of WWII, Fort Bedford was re-armed, by fitting two 5.5-inch guns from HMS Hood.
The Fort remained active until 1953,
when HMS Sparrow called to service the guns, and to remove any live ammunition.<o:p></o:p></div>
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From Cross Hill we rode down to through Georgetown to the
Ascension Island Museum. Our tour ended
at 17:00. We bid farewell to Andy and
spent some time touring the museum. From
the museum I walked back to town and stopped at a bar where Mike and Neal were
drinking beer. I joined them for one and
returned to the hotel.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I had the hotel buffet dinner at 19:00. After dinner I joined a group that walked
down to the turtle breeding beach to see if we could see some turtles laying
eggs. Our guide found a nest of newly
hatched turtles. Flash photos and
flashlights were prohibited. The guide
had a red light and I could see the baby turtles but it was difficult to take
pictures of them. At one point a baby
turtle crawled on my shoe and I was able to take a picture of it. There was a rather large crowd so I finally
gave up and returned to the hotel and purchased a one day Wi-Fi card. Back in
my room I found the Wi-Fi to be slow but I left my lap top on when I went
to bed to be able to down load my email from being away for 30 days.<o:p></o:p></div>
<h1>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Thursday, April 23 2015</span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> Ascension Island –
Day 2<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
I woke without an alarm and
showered and shaved before attending the hotel buffet breakfast. Some of the people from the boat had gotten
up before dawn and were able to see the turtles leaving their nests and
returning to the sea. Steve had been
able to take some good pictures.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Lynn and I had rented a car to
tour the island, so after breakfast we left the hotel to tour the island. He had me drive since I had more experience
with a right hand drive stick shift but Lynn had to keep reminding me to drive
on the left side of the road after stopping.
There were very few cars on the road but there were stop signs and
intersections. But at one point we were
stopped by a donkey that was standing in the middle of the rode and would not
move until we gingerly drove past it.<o:p></o:p></div>
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We first drove out to Comfortless
Bay where there was a swimming beach. A
zodiac from the MV Plancius tied up on the beach and a group was swimming in
the bay. We were amazed at the number of
antennas we saw. Our next stopping point
was English Bay where a number of scuba boats were moored off the beach. We also saw a number of wind generating
towers.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The road back from the bays lead
us past the One Boat Golf Club and up the hill to Two Boats Village were we
stopped to have lunch at the Two Boats Club.
It was noon and we had to order our lunch from the bar and it would be
delivered to us. We ordered a beer and
wondered around the club area which included a swimming pool, a lighted
basketball/tennis court with high screen sides, a Skittles Ally, a large area.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
While we were waiting for our food
we met a couple from Boston that had arrived on the Plancius and were staying
in VOQ quarters on the USAF Auxiliary Air Field. They had found that retired military could
stay, “space available” on the base and fly “space available” on a USAF plane
to Patrick AFB, FL. He was a retired
Naval officer and told us that the Air Force Auxiliary Air Field has only three
active duty personnel, and up to 300 contractors. He was invited to the commander’s morning
briefing.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Before we were served our ordered
meal Bob, Cathy and Mike arrived and then a tour group from the Plancius
arrived. A buffet was set up for them
and they took priority in the kitchen and we had a long wait before we received
our food.<o:p></o:p></div>
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After our lunch we returned to our tour of the island
stopping at the Air Force Auxiliary Air Field Base Exchange. There was some debate over allowing us to
purchase items using our US Military ID cards but they finally agreed to let us
purchase some goodies. We then returned
to the hotel<o:p></o:p></div>
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For dinner we drove back to the Volcano Club next to the Air
Force Auxiliary Air Field. We had
several beers with Bob, Cathy and Mike and then had a pizza in the snack bar.<o:p></o:p></div>
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After dinner we returned to the hotel. I attempted to log on the Internet and found
that it was down throughout the hotel area.
The surge of users had crashed the Telecom server. I spent some time writing my journal and went
to bed early.<o:p></o:p></div>
<h1>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Friday, April 24 2015</span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> Fly to Brize
Norton RAFB, Oxfordshire, UK<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
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I set my alarm to wake me before
sunrise and by 06:15 I was out at the Turtle Nesting Beach taking pictures of
the turtles crawling slowly to the sea.
Initially in the dark I didn’t get sharp pictures but by 06:30 there was
enough light to take some good pictures as they disappeared in the waves on
their way back to their breeding grounds off the coast of Brazil.<o:p></o:p></div>
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By 08:00 I had returned to the
hotel to eat breakfast. I had cereal and
toast and then returned to my room to shower, shave and pack. At 09:30 Lynn and I hopped in our rental car
to continue to explore the island. Our
first stop was to get gas. There is only
one gas station on the island and it was out of town on the road to Two Boats
Village. Continuing on to the Village we
turned north east on a road called Watsons Way.
It was an avenue of “Casuarinas” planted by Tom Watson in the period
1979 to 1983. There were 250 trees
planted at approximately 100 foot intervals.
The road ended at North East Point.<o:p></o:p></div>
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At one point on the way back we
stopped to take pictures of a red crab crossing the road and at another point
we saw a small heard of goats grazing along the road. We passed Two Boats Village again and took
the road to Devils Ashpit. It was a
windy road out to the old NASA Tracking Station. The main building is still there and is used
by the Boy Scouts. The Tracking Station
was built in 1965. By 1978 the typical
staff was almost 80 with a mix of US personnel and St Helenians that lived on
the Air Force Auxiliary Air Field. Many
unconfirmed local rumors state that Neil Armstrong’s first words upon landing
on the moon’s surface were relayed to Mission Control after being received by
this station. The spot had a great view
of the Southeast side of the island. I
guess the last use of the site was indicated by a decal on the door stating:
NASA GSFC, Simulation and Compatibility Test Brach, Testing SIMS CTV. In the center of the decal was a picture of
the space shuttle and a satellite.<o:p></o:p></div>
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After walking around the site we
drove back to the Royal Air Force Base and toured Wideawake Airfield. There was a RAF C-17 parked on the ramp. From the RAFB we drove to the Air Force Auxiliary
Air Base where I stopped to read the description of the building of the
airfield. The plans for a US Military
airfield started right at the start of the US involvement in World War II. In March 1942 construction started on the
airfield and supporting facilities. The
6000 foot long runway was finished ahead of schedule and dedicated on July 10,
1942. The first aircraft to land on the
field occurred on June 11<sup>th</sup> when a British aircraft from the carrier
HMS Archer intending to drop a message to the C&W office opted to land on
the new runway instead shortly after suffering the indignity of being shot at
by friendly forces. Over 20,000 aircraft
passed through between South America and Africa. In May 1947 the US the island but returned in
1957 to become part of the USAF Eastern Test Range.<o:p></o:p></div>
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We planned on eating lunch at the
Volcano Snack Bar but discovered it didn’t open until 16:30 so we returned to
Two Boats Village Club for lunch where we were joined by the couple from Boston
again.<o:p></o:p></div>
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This time our food arrived shortly
after our order was submitted. We had a
leisurely lunch and then returned to hotel to check out and turn our car in by
17:00. At 18:00 the hotel bus drove us
to the airfield. We were the first group
to arrive and were told the staff to check us in had not arrived. When they did arrive they processed military
passengers first and then the tourists.<o:p></o:p></div>
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We were checked in by 18:30 but
the plane didn’t arrive until 20:00.
When it did all the passengers (the plane was coming from the Falkland
Islands) had to get off while the plane was refueled. They were eventually allowed to board about
21:30 and then we were called to board.
When we were called women, children and those with disabilities were
called first. Elliot produced a cane and
joined the group to board first. We all
joked about he took advantage of the situation and Mike remarked to him as he
walked by that he didn’t appear to have any trouble on the cruse climbing
stairs and getting in and out zodiacs.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
When I boarded I discovered I was
assigned an aisle seat on the right side of the middle four seats in the second
row of the tourist section. The plane
was an Airbus 330-243 charter operated by AirTanker. Next to me was Elliot! I put on my Bose headset and neck
pillow. We took off ten minutes early at
22:25. Elliot didn’t say anything to me
for the longest time and after they served the meal he asked me what time we
had taken off. Then the woman in the
seat in front of me asked to be relocated.
That first row had a wide aisle in front of it and she couldn’t store
her bag at her feet. Elliot then asked
to take her seat so I had an empty seat next to me for most of the flight.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
In the evening of April 24, depart
at 22:00 from Ascension Island and fly with the scheduled RAF (Royal Air Force)
flight to Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, UK arriving April 25 around 8:00
AM. We will update the flight status once we arrive on the island
(RAF Ascension Passenger Information tel 247-3319). Please consult your individual itineraries
for your flight connections home. You
may need an overnight in London. Bob
& Cathy leave with this group.<o:p></o:p></div>
<h1>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Saturday, April 25 2015<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
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We landed at Brize Norton RAFB
Oxfordshire, UK at 07:45. I think I
slept about five hours. Getting our
luggage and processing into the country was quick and there was a desk where we
signed up and received a free ticket for a bus to Heathrow. Lynn, Mike, Bob and Cathy were on the
bus. I sat in back of Bob across the
aisle from Frank Grosse-Oetringhaus. I
had had very little contact with him on the cruise. I knew he had been on the segment before we
departed Ushuaia. We then got into a
lengthy discussion about his travels. He
does not subscribe to any of the clubs defining there places to visit as just
places to cross a border and not necessarily see the sights and taste the foods
in places around the world. He is taking
off on Patricia Schultz’s book: “<i>1000 Places
To See Before You Die”, </i>Frank and his Thai partner Teodoro Murallon are
writing a book: “<i>10,000 Places To See in
Ten Years”</i>. They are traveling the
world full time to document the 10,000 places.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
Bob and I had quite a lively
discussion with him. I challenged his
list of places by asking him what he considered the places to visit in Ohio and
when he dismissed the Football Hall of Fame as not relevant for a world
traveler, and the National Museum of the USAF as not one of the great aircraft
museums in the world and didn’t consider the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame he lost
all credibility with me. His one Ohio
attraction to visit in his book will be the state fair. We moved on to New York and he stated he does
include the Baseball Hall of Fame and the Museum at Bethel Woods but not the
Woodstock Museum. I was left with the
opinion that his list is a representation of his tastes and are no more
pertinent than using the TCC, MTP or TBT lists of places to visit coupled with
the Lonely Planet Guides as to what to do during a visit. If he enjoys traveling the world and has the
money to visit 10,000 places then so be it.
I am perfectly satisfied using the TCC, MTP and TBT lists as places to
visit and the Lonely Planet and local guides to direct me to the best things to
do and places to visit when I am there.
I don’t plan to purchase his book if it is ever published.<o:p></o:p></div>
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When we arrived at Heathrow I left
the group to take a bus to the Marriott Hotel while Bob, Cathy, Lynn and Mike
took a different bus to the Renaissance and the Griffith’s took a bus to the
Ibis. After over 30 days it was hard to
say good bye.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
Because of my three month stay in
Marriott hotels during my job earlier in the year at Fort Huachuca I had
reached Gold status at Marriott and was using points for my stay. They had a room waiting for me and gave me
access to the VIP Lounge with its free snacks and drinks.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
I checked into the room, showered
and shaved and headed for the city to visit old haunts from consulting days on
projects in London. The first stop was
next door at the Sheraton Skyline which I stayed in at the start of the British
Airways project in the 1980s. It was
basically the same with the pool in the center of the building and the bar in
the middle of the pool. The shop that
sold detailed aircraft models was gone but it still catered to air crews. I left the hotel and boarded a free bus to
Hatton Cross passing by the British Airways buildings I used to work in. At Hatton Cross I purchased a one day pass
and rode the Piccadilly Underground to Earl’s Court and switched to the
Victoria Line and got off at Sloan Square where I walked past the apartment I
stayed at during the British Airways project and the local pubs. Back on the train I rode to Westminster where
I got off and crossed the bridge and purchased a ticket for the London
Eye. A ticket also included a preshow
and then a twenty minute wait in line to board a 25 person capsule to take a
forty minute ride. I enjoyed the view of
the Waterloo Bridge, Strand and Stamford Street where I worked on a project for
SHL in the 1990s.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
After the ride I walked over to
the Waterloo Bridge and crossed to the Strand where I had a Fish and Chips
lunch at The Wellington pub where I used to eat when I stayed at the Strand
Palace Hotel.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
Following lunch I walked through
Covent Garden stopping to watch various performers and passed by pubs that were
there back in the 1990s ending up at Leicester Square where I boarded a
Piccadilly Line train to Heathrow. At
Heathrow I waited for a bus back to my hotel when I ran into Bob and
Cathy. They also had gone into London
but had gone all the way to the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. This time we took the same bus and I got off
with them at the stop across the road from their hotel and I walked on to my
hotel passing by familiar sights from the days I used to jog in the
neighborhood. How I miss jogging which I
was told not to do after I had my right knee replaced.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
Back at the hotel I had a snack
and drink at the VIP lounge and went to bed early.<o:p></o:p></div>
<h1>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Sunday, April 26 2015<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
I got a solid night’s sleep on a
top flite mattress in a bed that wasn’t rocking or rolling for the first time
in over a month. I set no alarm and woke
just in time to dress and catch the buffet breakfast before it closed. Back in the room I showered and shaved. Checked my email and watched some of the top
finishers in the London Marathon on TV.
I took note of the road closures and then headed out to the city.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
I took the free bus to Hatton
Cross again, bought another day pass and boarded the Piccadilly Line and
disembarked at Hyde Corner Park. The crowds
had disbursed from the Hyde Park and The Green Park area but the barricades
were still in place. I could see down
Constitution Hill through The Green Park past Buckingham Palace the last turn
on the race course to the finish on The Mall and there were still runners on
the course. Again I longed for the days
when I could run and would have loved to run the London course. Oh, well one gets old and has to move on to
other endeavors like world travel.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
I was still reliving my past time
in London and walked up Park Lane to Grosvenor past the US Embassy where I took
pictures of Ronald Reagan and General Eisenhower statues on the corners of the
building and FDR in the park. From there
I walked on to Oxford Street and stopped at Selfridges. Judy is a big fan of the TV show and wanted
me to get her a store guide. Since
Mother’s Day was a week away I looked for souvenirs from the store to give her
as a present. At first the only thing I
could find was a shopping bag with the store name on it but finally I found a
section that sold coffee cups, books and aprons. I purchased two cups, the book the TV show
was based on, and an apron.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
It was after 14:00 when I left in
search of a pub that I could get a Ploughman’s Lunch. I checked the menus at every pub in the
Mayfair area with no avail. I found
myself back at Hyde Park Corner and decided to continue my walk down memory
lane through Hyde Park past Sloane Street to Harrods. After a walk through Harrods it was then
almost 16:00 so I hopped on the Piccadilly line at the Knightsbridge Station
and returned to Heathrow and on to my hotel.
I dropped Judy’s presents in my room and ventured out again to The
Pheasant Inn, one of my old eating pubs in the area from my stays at the
Sheraton Skyline. It still had
Ploughman’s Lunch on the menu. I ordered
one with ham and cheddar cheese. It was
served with a lettuce, tomato, cucumber , boiled egg and sprouts salad, Branston
Pickle, a pickled onion, beetroot and crusty bread, and of course a pint of
ale. The pub was crowded and I had to
share a table with another couple. They
were having a traditional British Sunday Roast Beef dinner with Yorkshire pudding. It looked delicious but a dinner I could obtain
easily in Woodland Hills, not so with the authentic Ploughman’s Lunch. It was a fitting end to a long journey.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
I returned to the hotel and
retired early.<o:p></o:p></div>
<h1>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Monday, April 27 2015<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
I woke early, when down to the
breakfast buffet and then returned to the room to shower, shave and pack. After checking out I took the bus to Heathrow
and checked in for my 10:35 flight to LAX.
The gate was a long walk from the security area but there was a Star
Alliance Club close by. I was able to
process my email while I waited to board the flight. The plane was a United B-777 and I was seated
in 22D, an inside aisle with no one else in seats on my row. I settled in and had a relaxing flight back
to LAX, landing at 13:15 local.<o:p></o:p></div>
<h1>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Epilogue<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
The trip had been a long
adventure. Sometimes disappointing but
overall a very memorable experience getting to meet and know so many world
travelers, over 20 that had visited every country in the world. I learned that they have come from many
countries, with different backgrounds and motivations. Almost all were a distinct pleasure to eat,
drink and share experiences with. I feel
very humbled and lucky to be included in the group of elite travelers.<o:p></o:p></div>
Edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03034021752003929779noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2230692068076603436.post-68228153033503103562014-10-10T15:13:00.000-07:002014-10-10T15:13:03.126-07:00Recife & Fernando de Noronha Journal – September & October 2014<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Overview:</b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My tour of Recife and Fernando de Noronha, Brazil, was
scheduled with Advantage Travel & Tours, Poway, California. The trip was scheduled to meet with Lynn
Bishop, Mary Warren and Lorraine Voskanian in Recife, Brazil who were touring
South America with visits to Paraguay and Bolivia and finishing with a visit to
the islands of Fernando de Noronha 200 mile off the coast of Brazil.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I have traveled with Lynn and Mary on many trips in the
past.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Thursday, September 25, 2014: </b>Fly LAX to Houston<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My driver arrived on time for my noon pickup. He was one of the several Armenians that live
in Glendale, CA and work as limo drivers that have driven me in the past. We did not encounter any heavy traffic on the
drive and we arrived in thirty five minutes to find that United had changed the
door for the Premier check-in from Terminal 6 to the last door in Terminal
7. They had porters in front of the doors
with signs pointing to the new entrance. Once inside the area was as empty as I had
found the old location except the TSA check point was just a few feet away and
it had a full body scanner so I was able to process through in just a few
minutes and proceeded up the old Terminal 8 escalator. It was the quickest check-in I had had since
TSA was in operation.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Upstairs I walked to the United Lounge and again was
surprised that they didn’t swipe my card and just scanned my ticket to prove
who I was and that I was authorized to use the lounge. I was receiving text messages every few
minutes with gate changes for my flight and then that the flight was going to
be delayed due to late arriving aircraft.
I started to get concerned since I had just an hour and fifteen minute
connection in Houston and my gates were as far apart as the physically could
be. My arrival was scheduled to park at gate
C30 and my departure gate was E18, a distance of over 0.6miles.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I walked to my gate at 14:30 my original departure time and
found no aircraft but they were announcing that it was on the ground. They hustled us aboard and we actually broke
ground at 15:15 and parked at the gate in Houston at 20:10. I was relieved since my departure to Brazil
was scheduled for 21:05.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I walked at a brisk rate and when I entered terminal E I was
able to board an electric cart which delivered me to the gate just as they
started boarding. I was using ‘Miles’ on
the flight and had a good deal to fly in Business Class on a Thursday. The plane was a B-767 and the Business Class section
had a 2-1-2 configuration and I was assigned to seat 4D in the middle with
aisles on both sides.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The seats fully reclined but it was somewhat frustrating to find
a place to store reading material and my day bag. The flight was scheduled to fly to Sao Paulo
where I had to change airports for Azul Airlines a Star Alliance partner to fly
to Recife.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I settled in and plugged in my cell phone and attempted to
plug in my Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet which I had used to the previous
flight to watch an episode of ‘The Roosevelt’s’. I discovered that I hadn’t brought the
correct connection for the tablet. It
was an early model and required a 30 pin connector that looks like an iPod
connector which is what I had. I started
to watch the aircraft in-flight entertainment but the meal was served very
quickly and cranked the seat down flat and went to sleep.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Friday, September 26,
2014:</b> Arrive Sao Paulo (GRC), transfer to (VCP) and fly to Recife<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I don’t remember how long I slept before my feet started to
swell and I kicked off my shoes (the laces had been loosned before
take-off). I found that the flat bed
configuration on the United B-767 had a very narrow space for feet to reside
and not enough room for both empty shoes and feet. I had to move the seat into the upright
configuration to be able to store the shoes out of the way. Once that was done I fell back to sleep until
I was awakened by a flight attendant to be served breakfast. I guess I was able to sleep for six hours on
the flight.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When we landed in Sao Paulo I was surprised to find only one
person in front of me in the Foreign Passport check line. I guess most of my fellow Business Class
passengers were Brazilians and their line was quite long. The quick processing at Passport Control
didn’t do me much good since my luggage took a long time to arrive. One of my baggage Id tags had been ripped off
and the other which had a steel cable looked like it was dragged on the
pavement.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Once I got my bag I proceeded to a taxi stand to hire a taxi
for the long ride to the Viracopos International Airport which is 70 miles
away. Fortunately I had almost five
hours between flights since the notorious Sao Paulo traffic caused the taxi to
take two hours to cover the distance. It
cost me R$408.22 (US$193.36) for the trip.
I could have flown between the airports for less but the schedule didn’t
line up correctly.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As we approached the Viracopos airport it rained! The first rain this LA based traveler had
seen in months, but alas, it stopped before we entered the airport so I didn’t
get the feel of it. Check-in went
quickly. Azul had a lot of check-in
stations and there was no one in line. I
was handed off at the first station to another station where the agent spoke
excellent English. Security was a breeze
and once in the terminal I found they had free WiFi which allowed me to catch
up on my email.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The plane was full and I had a window seat which turned out
to be the wrong side to view Recife on approach. They had free TV in the backrests and I
watched and listened to CNN during the trip.
No meal was served but they did pass out chips, nuts, cookies and cupcakes.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When I landed in Recife I took a taxi to the hotel. The hotel was south of the city center on the
main land (the city proper is made up by three islands). The beach was two blocks west of the hotel.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At check-in I asked the desk clerk if they could arrange for
a tour of Olinda and Recife the next day with an English speaking guide. He told me he thought he could arrange
it. The room was nice, a little on the
small side and the electrical outlets next to the bed were in use with a clock
radio and a lamp. I figured the lamp
would shut off when the key card was withdrawn at the door but the clock radio
would stay hot all the time so I plugged into the clock radio socket and
plugged the clock radio into my power strip.
Once I had unpacked I left the hotel to scout the neighborhood. Not too many blocks away I came upon a Subway
so I decided to have a six-inch tuna sub for dinner. I then walked along the beach. It was a pretty area but I had missed the sun
setting and it was dark by the time I reached the hotel.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When I returned to the hotel the desk clerk told me the tour
had been arranged with an English speaking guide at no extra cost for 13:45 the
next day. After washing out my
underwear, I retired.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Saturday, September
27, 2014: </b>Tour Recife<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I slept through breakfast and when I did get going I went to
the receptionist to find out where I might be able to purchase a power cord for
my tablet. They told me the most likely
place would be the big mall. I obtained
a map and they showed me where it was located but told me due to construction I
couldn’t walk to it and a taxi would only be R$10 (US$4). I took a taxi and found the mall to be huge. The first store I found that sold adapters
had one that would fit all three of my devices (smart phone, tablet and iPod)
so I bought it. It had a short cord, so
later on as I was exploring the mall I purchased a long cord just for the
tablet. I ate an early lunch in the food
court and took a taxi back to the hotel.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Back in my room I attempted to charge my tablet but a
message flashed on the screen that the device wouldn’t charge and I should use
the adapter that was supplied with the unit.
Both adapter cords drained the tablet battery so I returned to the mall
with the two cords and the tablet and went to the Samsung store. There I discovered that it wasn’t the cords
but the computer USB was not supplying the correct voltage and I need the
electrical outlet adapter. I really
didn’t want to have to purchase a Brazilian two pin adapter but I wanted to
recharge my tablet so I purchased it and rushed back to the hotel to take the
tour.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Back in my room I plugged in the new adapter and both cords
would work so I left the tablet charging and went down to the lobby to take the
tour. The guide showed up and didn’t
speak English. I told the receptionist
to cancel the tour. He called the
company and was told the English speaking guide had switched assignments and
would be taking the morning tour so I agreed to go on that one.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I spent the afternoon walking the neighborhood and in my
room watching an episode of <u>The Roosevelts </u>on my laptop.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I retired early vowing not to sleep through a paid for in
advance breakfast again.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Sunday, September 28,
2014: </b>Tour Recife and Olinda<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I awoke to my alarm at 06:00, showered shaved and went to
breakfast at 07:00. It was a decent
buffet and I was able to eat, return to my room and pack a day bag for my
tour. I went down to the lobby at 08:30
and as I got there my tour guide arrived.
She was a short middle aged blond lady named Sylvia. Her English was excellent and I later learned
that she had lived in London, England for a while.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The tour bus had 18 seats but there were just three others,
a lady and two male brothers taking the tour, all from the Sao Paulo area. Sylvia would describe the scene in Portuguese
and then English. The tour left the
hotel at 08:45 and drove through Recife to Olinda. It was the start of the two day João Pessoa
Tourism Festival in Recife and the roads were being set up with traffic cones
to enable people on bicycles to ride around the city. Sylvia explained that normally the tour would
visit Recife first and then tour in Olinda but they were reversing the schedule
to visit Recife last after the cones had been setup and the driver would know
which streets he could use.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The first landmark we passed was the El Casino Americano
which was the building g used by the US Navy during WWII when they stationed
ships in the harbor. From there we
passed over the bridge of Mauricio de Nassau, one of the many bridges with a
view of the shopping mall I had visited the day before. The bridge had beautiful statues at each
end. One lane of traffic was reserved
for the bicyclists participating in the festival. We soon reached the historical center of Olinda,
a UNESCO World Natural and Cultural Heritage Monument.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
The designation as a World Natural
and Cultural Heritage Monument has kept the charm of a city museum of the
colonial period. Olinda was founded in
1537 by the Portuguese Duarte Coelho Pereira and owed its rapid rise to the
cultivation of sugar cane in the region of Pernambuco using slave labor.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
From the 16th century, churches and
convents, of which only rare examples such as the Church of São João exist
today, were built by religious missions.
The Dutch occupied the region from 1630 to 1654 and during the
occupation a well-planned town was built where present-day Recife is
located. Pernambuco was ably governed by
the Dutch and prospered with the production of sugar in the plantations located
in the rich alluvial soil along the coast.
However, the invaders burned down Olinda, although they created a
pacific and developed administration centered in Recife.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
Portuguese rule replaced that of
the Dutch in Pernambuco in 1654, and Olinda recovered; once again it was an
important Brazilian village, as a developed and cultural center. In the early 18th century a bitter rivalry
developed between Olinda, the administrative capital of the Captaincy and the
residence of rich aristocratic plantation owners, and Recife, which was the
commercial center, largely inhabited by traders, ship's chandlers and warehouse
workers.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
Recife continued to prosper,
however, while Olinda declined, and in 1827 it was made the capital of the
province. In 1817 Pernambuco was the
scene of a local armed rebellion against Portuguese rule. It remained for years a hotbed of
republicanism and revolutionary agitation, and it was the site of unsuccessful
insurrections against Portuguese rule in 1821-22, 1824, 1831 and 1848. Pernambuco became a state of the Brazilian
Republic in 1891.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
The essential urban fabric of
Olinda dates from the 18th century, although it incorporates some older
monuments. Among the more important of
the buildings of Olinda are the Episcopal Church, the Jesuit College and Church
(now the Church of Graça), the Franciscan, Carmelite, Benedictine and other
monasteries and convents, and the Misericórdia, Amparo and São João Batista
churches.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
The unique quality of the Historic
Center arises from the balance, which has generally been maintained, between
the private and public buildings and the gardens of the early land
allotment. It is a town of unexpected
views: one of the numerous Baroque churches and convents or the numerous passos
(chapels and oratories) will appear unexpectedly as one turns a corner. The studied refinements of the decor of these
conscious architectural structures contrasts with the charming simplicity of
the houses, which are painted in vivid colors or faced with ceramic tiles.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
Over recent decades, Olinda - a
city of art, much appreciated by artists - has been the object of numerous
preservation measures. Outstanding buildings such as the Church of Graça, with
the former Jesuit College, the Convent do Carmo and the Episcopal Palace has
all been more or less completely restored.
The construction of new complexes is regulated by a master plan and the
zone of protection was extended in 1979.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our first stop was at the Sao Bento church. The plaque outside described it as follows:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 24.55pt;">
The church was built by the
Benedictines, in the 16th Century. It
took 200 years to complete and was the second Benedictine monastery in Brazil. In 1631 it was burned by the Dutch and
restoration started in 1654 and went through various periods and styles. The date carved in the façade, 1761,
indicates the last refurbishment. At one
time it housed the first law school in Brazil.
It had a unique front with a simple entrance and an eye window in the
middle of the choir windows, prominent doors and scrolls with an amazing coat
of arms of the Benedictine Order. It
also has a bell tower covered by a dome.
The main church is traditional and strict and its interior has only one
aisle and a ceiling painted in floral ornaments. The choir is a stone slab leaned on columns
on bases, with richly worked pulpits and the cross arch has columns among altars. The main chapel is in Baroque style and the
ceiling is painted with convent scenes.
The main alter has a retable with Baroque, Neoclassic and Rococo
influence, in wood covered in gold. In
the main throne of the altar there is the image of the patriarch, Saint
Benedict. The convent sacristy is the richest
one among the churches of Olinda with elaborate golden carves, crystal mirrors
and paintings showing the penitent life of Saint Benedict. Apart from a stone washstand and various oil
paintings there is an image of the Christ Crucified, in human scale. It is in the choir, with the back to the main
chapel because of the slaves who were not allowed to enter the church.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 24.55pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sylvia told us the altar is the richest in Olinda, with many
gold pieces. In 2003, the altar was
exhibited by the Guggenheim Museum in New York City. The disassembling of the altar was made by a
team of specialists, and took months.
The church is the only one in Olinda with a mezzanino. During colonial times, the rich people would
attend the mass in the mezzanino, the other free people would stay in the
floor, inside the church, and the slaves would stay outside.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the building beside the church the first Faculty of Law
was established in Brazil, on May 15th 1828.
In 1852, the Faculty was transferred to the Palace of Governors, in Olinda,
and in 1854 it was again transferred to Recife.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When I entered the church to take pictures, Sylvia showed me
the walls near the entrance where restoration is starting and one could see
that the original marble had been painted over and was then being uncovered.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The streets were cobbled stones from the 16th/17th
century. The stones vary in color that
indicates that the stones came from different parts, and fixed in different
epochs. Most of the streets were repaved
in Olinda, but the original stones may be recognized by their irregular laying.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Another feature that Sylvia pointed out to us was the
difference is the roof tiles of the Olinda houses. Rich people had a roof with three layers of
tiles, the middle class had two layers, the poorer had only one. These three houses styles were called Eira,
Beira and Tribeira; a popular saying in Brazil refers to poor people as being
"sem eira nem beira", meaning that, like in the old Olinda, their
houses would have only one layer of tiles. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We walked around the area visiting the old structures, most
of which housed tourist shops. Some had
beautiful tile or brick floors. The
giant puppet figures worn in Carnival Parades were displayed in many of the
shops. A lot of local art was for sale in the shops and at one point we came
upon an art class with six boys painting very colorful designs under the
watchful eye of their teacher.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We spent an hour touring the center of Olinda and then
boarded our bus for a ride down the steep hill to Recife. The flow of bicyclists was thinning out as we
approached the center of the city and stopped at Republic Square. It was one of the most beautiful and ancient
squares in the city. It was located
where once stood a Dutch Palace which was demolished in 1769 and then the first
Brazilian Zoo and Botanic Gardens.
Facing the square were the Palace of the Princesses Field, home of the
state government; Teatro Santa Isabel Theater; the Court of Justice of the
State; and the School of Arts and Crafts.
A giant baobab tree grows in one corner of the square.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We toured the square and then drove on to Casa da Cultura, a
large three story building dating back to the 19th century. Originally built as a prison, it has been
transformed into a culture center, with craft stores and tourist shops
occupying the former prison cells. One
cell (#106) remains in its original configuration as a display.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
From the Cultural Center we rode to site of the João Pessoa
Tourism Festival center. There we saw
the food booths being set. Close by we
walked past the Kahal Zur Israel Synagogue which dated back to the 17<sup>th</sup>
century and was the first formal Synagogue in all Americas. In 2001 it was reformed and holds the Judaic
Culture Center of Pernambuco.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A short distance further along we entered the <span lang="EN">Plaza de Marco Zero - Km Zero. In the middle of the plaza is a small 'Km 0'
marker. It marks the place where the
Portuguese founded Recife in 1537. A
stage faced the square where music was playing and people were dancing in front
of the stage. Along the edge of the
plaza were the water front and a string of ten foot tall letters spelling out
RECIFE. Young people were climbing on
the letters, taking ‘selfies’ with their smart phones and posing for their
friends to take their pictures. I was
surprised how few cameras were used and how many iPads were used.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN">Another
thing that surprised me was how clean the city was and the number of men in
uniform that were maintaining the streets and sidewalks.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN">From
the plaza we returned to my hotel. The
tour was over. Sylvia recommended some
restaurants in my neighborhood to eat lunch.
I walked to the one she highly recommended and found a long line waiting
so a walked further on to a restaurant she also recommended where I ordered
from a menu with pictures of each entree at a cashier. Once I paid for my meal my receipt had a
number on it much like a fast food joint.
I ordered a fish salad that was delicious.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN">It
was 13:00 hours when I finished my lunch so I took a stroll along the
beach. It was covered with beach
umbrellas and young men in speedos and young girls in string bikinis. Between the sidewalk and the sand there were
areas where there were tennis courts and very large Life Guard stands. It was an interesting stroll.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN">When
I returned to my room I watched an episode of the Roosevelt’s and processed
email. For dinner I ate in the hotel and
retired early.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Monday, September 29,
204: </b>Fly from Recife to Fernando de Noronha<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I didn’t set an alarm and slept a little over 8 hours. After taking a shower I went down for
breakfast. Back in my room I packed for
the flight and then processed email.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Check-in took longer than Friday. Azul didn’t have as many check-in stations
and there was a line. When it was my
turn I discovered the agent spoke English and asked me if I had visited the
island before and when I replied it would be my first time he told me I would
enjoy it. He assigned me a window seat
on the side of the plane were I could take good pictures of Recife on climb out
and of Fernando de Noronha on landing.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Security was another issue.
There they did not have an efficient way to check me for setting off the
x-ray alarm and once they got their act together and found a male agent with a
hand wand that worked and checked me they then made me dump my carry-on to see
my little box of batteries. Eventually I
was cleared to proceed.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I had not had lunch so I purchased a tuna sandwich and an
iced tea in the lounge area. When it
came time for my flight they had three lines at the gate. The middle line had a young lady in a walking
case and her husband. Something was
announced in Portuguese and the man in back of me in line motioned for me to
stand behind the couple. When the agent
was given the OK to process the passengers the couple and I were the first ones
processed. It was a long route to the
aircraft. We had to walk at the second
level past five gates and then down a long ramp which switched back to another
long ramp to the air bridge and on to the plane. I had passed the limping lady and was the
first to board the plane and I row 4 or 5 I greeted Lynn and Mary. They had flown in from Sao Paulo on the
plane. I was assigned to 9A so I wasn’t
able say much more than hello because the rest of the passengers were right
behind me.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was a short flight and I was able to take some good
pictures of Recife and the famous reef on the climb out and some pictures of
Fernando de Noronha on approach to the island.
When we deplaned we were met by a young man and handed a form which we
needed to fill out and then pay an environmental preservation fee of R$144.60 or
US$59.51 per person for stays up to 10 days.
There was no flat surface to write on so I joined the line and completed
the form as I waited to pay the fee.
Once I paid the fee a paper was printed and using hi-tech the clerk used
a metal ruler to tear the paper into to several forms. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On exit from the arrivals room I had to
present one of the forms and then entered a crowded baggage claim room. When my bag arrived, Lynn, Mary and Lorraine
had not exited so I proceeded out to the waiting area and found a young lady
with a list and I told her my name. She found
my name on her list and directed me to a baggage trailer attracted to a bus
where I loaded my big bag. They wanted
me to take my carry-on into the bus. I
loaded it on the bus and returned to look for my fellow travelers. They still were not in baggage claim and I
saw through a window that they were just then paying their environmental preservation
fee. I waited for them to exit baggage
claim and directed them to the lady with the list.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When all passengers were on the bus we started out and the
lady explained that her company would pick us up at 08:00 the next morning for
a ten hour tour of the island with opportunities to snorkel and swim with
turtles. I asked about dolphins and she
said they no longer allow swimming with the dolphins but certain times of the
year they can be seen if we take the boat tour.
This was not the time of year when then were plentiful. We were told we needed to purchase a ticket
to enter the Nation Park which covers 75 per cent of the island and which we
will be visiting on our tour. The bus
stopped at several of the small bed and breakfasts so on the ride I was able to
meet Lorraine Voskanian whom I had never traveled with before. She was a retired grade school teacher from San
Francisco and commuted from San Rafael.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our Pousada (Hotel) Estrela do Mar was one of only three
hotels on the island, there are over 300 bed and breakfasts homes on the
island. It was located at the end of a
dirt road behind the TV-FM station and had a view of the runway and the ocean
beyond. The TV-FM tower served as a good
landmark. At check-in we found the lady
didn’t speak any English she did draw on a map I received at the airport the
route to obtain the National Park ticket.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The room was of fair size with air conditioning, internet
(very poor bandwidth), TV (only Portuguese stations, a small refrigerator stocked
and with prices comparable to the grocery store. There were able electrical outlets. After settling in my room and hooking up my
CPAP, I walked over to Lynn and Mary’s room.
Lorraine soon joined us and I told them I would scout out the ticket
office and restaurants. They were concerned
that there was no money exchange at the airport and the guide on the bus told
them there was no money exchange on the island.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I left and it took me about fifteen minutes to stroll down
hill to the ticket booth. There I found
they had to show them my passport and they took my picture. It cost R$150 for a card. The agent gave me some recommendations for
restaurants and I started walking back.
There was quite a hill to walk up and I guessed the others would find it
a little challenging. On the way I came
upon a small grocery where I purchased two bottles of water for the tour the
next day.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I reported back to the group that they could pay for the
ticket with a credit card or US$ but they needed to bring their passport and
would have their picture taken. We
agreed to leave for dinner about 18:30.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I returned to my room and was able to call both Judy and
Cathy on Vonage. Mary had told me
Cathy’s mother had just died in Vancouver.
The connections were poor but I was able to get my condolence message
through to Cathy.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At 18:30 we walked down to the ticket office where they
purchased their Park Pass and then we went to Sao Miguel a Pizzeria for
dinner. They ordered pizza and I ordered
a fish salad. It was very tasty and Lorraine
offered me one slice of her pizza and I found it to also be very good. I had guessed right and on the walk back up
the hill the group had to stop to rest a little. We stopped at the grocery store where they
stocked up and then continued to the hotel.
It was dark and the turn off the gravel street to the hotel was not
marked. I guided them to the hotel.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Since breakfast started at 06:45, I set my alarm for 05:30
and went to bed at 21:30.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Tuesday, September 30,
2014:</b> Tour Fernando de Noronha.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I awoke to the alarm and showered (good strong hot water)
and shaved. I could see the breakfast
area from my side window and when people started to arrive I joined them even
though it was before 06:45. Lorraine
joined me. They had delicious scrambled
eggs with cheese. The best I have had in
a long time. When I usually try to make
it is either too dry or has too much cheese.
I returned to my room and packed a day bag for the tour. I wore a long sleeve snorkeling shirt to
guard against sunburn. I have learned
that snorkeling for twenty minutes face down with a bare back can produce a
tender back for the rest of the trip.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At 08:00 I turned in my key and purchased a beach towel for
R$5 from the front desk. A four door pick-up
truck arrived with an English speaking guide “<span style="color: #383838;">Samuel</span>”. We all elected to sit on bench seats under a
cover in the back. There was room to
store our gear under the seats and there were seat belts which I discovered
later were necessary due to the rough roads.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #383838;">Samuel</span> explained -
Fernando de Noronha (“The Brazilian Fantasy Island”) is an archipelago of 21
islands and islets in the Atlantic Ocean, around 220 miles offshore from the
Brazilian coast. The main island has an
area of 7.1 square miles and a population of around 3, 000. The area is a special municipality of the
Brazilian state of Pernambuco, where Recife is the state capital (despite being
closer to the state of Rio Grande do Norte) and is a UNESCO World Heritage
Site.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was claimed by Americo Vespucio for the Portuguese in
1503, and early settlers built a fortress, now in ruins, at Vila dos Remedios,
the largest populated town. The islands
were a prison, then a convenient stopover point for early flights to Europe,
and the facilities used by one European airline gave the name Air France to a
local community. There was also a WW II US
Army air base used as a refueling stop for aircraft flying to Africa and a US
Missile Tracking site in the 1950’s. The
Brazilian Air Force maintains a base on the island.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Although the islands support a large variety of wildlife
species, they are relatively unpopulated and tourism is restricted to 420
visitors at a time. The longer you stay,
the higher your permit fee will be. Visitors
must arrive with a scheduled package tour.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There were only two villages worthy of any size in Noronha:
Vila dos Remedios and Vila do Trinta. There
was one paved road, Brazil's shortest national highway.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We bounced down the dirt road from the hotel and past the
grocery store to a place that rented life vests which I would need to snorkel
Sueste Bay where I could swim with turtles.
The rental place was on a cul-de-sac and was busy renting snorkeling
equipment to dozens of people. From the
rental shack we drove past the area of the ticket office to the <span style="color: #2a2a2a;">Palace<span style="letter-spacing: 1.15pt;"> </span>of<span style="letter-spacing: .9pt;"> </span>Sao<span style="letter-spacing: .15pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: #383838;">Miguel and stopped by the church of Nossa Senhora dos
Remedios. There was a Dive Shop there
that exchanged money. Unfortunately it
didn’t open until 09:30 so Samuel disappeared and return with a young lady who
had a fist full of cash and was able to exchange money for Lynn, Mary and
Lorraine. As they were waiting I was
able to tour the church which was built in 1929. On a hill overlooking the area was the
Remedios Fort flying the flag of Brazil and below it the flag of Fernando de
Noronha. The wind was blowing so the
flags were straight out enabling me to take a nicely framed picture from within
the church.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #383838;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #383838;">When everyone exchanged money we
boarded the truck again and rode to the Sancho entrance to the National
Park. We passed through a small shop
where our pass card was scanned and we were allowed to enter the area. We walked on a raised boardwalk to a cliff
overlooking Sancho Beach. It was an
absolutely beautiful wide sandy beach.
From there we walked north to the end of the boardwalk to the area of
Fort of Sao Joao Baptista dos Dois Irmaos.
Along the way we saw several bird nests.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #383838;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #383838;">We returned to Sancho Beach
overlook where Samuel and I climbed down a vertical stainless steel 20 rung
latter in a craves between boulders to a flat area and then down 150 stairs to
the beach. We donned our snorkeling gear
and snorkeled off the beach where I saw many colorful fish. There was a fair amount of rocks but few
coral and what coral I saw was not very colorful but the fish were more
abundant in the vicinity of the rocks and coral. We snorkeled for about thirty minutes and
then I felt guilty because the others were just sitting at the entry shop so I
swam back in.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #383838;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #383838;">Our next stop was at Praia da
Cacimba do Padre beach where we ordered lunch and walked to another beautiful
sandy beach. The snorkeling was not as
rewarding as the previous beach but it was easy entry and exit and more of just
a refreshing swim. Lorraine joined us
for a swim. After our swim we ate lunch. We had fish fried on a grill. It was tasty but a little more than I usually
eat for lunch.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #383838;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #383838;">After lunch we drove to another
wide beautiful beach but due to a strong undertow, swimming was not
allowed. It was a good stop for pictures
of the rocky points just off the coast.
We stopped at several other picture taking spots and then drove around
the end of the runway to Sueste Bay. It
was another entry point where we had to have our card scanned to get in. At this beach I had to wear a life vest. The bay is on the south side of the island
and the sea is darker with more waves than the north side.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #383838;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #383838;">Samuel and I took to the water
and snorkeled out a long way but the tide was out and in most of the area I
could touch the bottom. Eventually he
found a large turtle and I swam along and around it for about ten minutes as it
fed itself. When we started back to
shore Samuel spotted a sting ray but I didn’t get a sharp view of it before it
swam out of sight. I don’t recall how
long we were in the water but the others were waiting at a snack bar with a lot
of activity so I don’t think they minded very much.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #383838;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #383838;">Back in the truck we rode around
the end of the runway to the northeast end of the island where there was a
little chapel and a view of St Antonio Harbor, Fort St Antonio and two small
islands. The area was called Air France. Our next stop was a short distance away at
the Buraco da Raquel. A large rock
shaped like an elephant with a cave at the bottom. It was named after the daughter of one of the
former commanders of the island. From
the point overlooking the rock we walked across a large lawn with a row of
metal statues at one end and the Shark Museum at the other end. Inside the museum were displays of various
types of sharks and explanations of the different breeds. Some signage was in English but most was just
in Portuguese.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #383838;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #383838;">We spent around twenty minutes
in the museum and then drove on to the Turtle Museum where Samuel first worked
when he came to the island to research the effects of tourists on turtles. In back of the museum was the WWII US Army
base. The Quonset huts were still in use
but the large building that most likely was a repair shop had fallen into
disrepair. I was able to take a few
pictures of the area.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #383838;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #383838;">Just down the road from the
Turtle Museum we stopped at Fort Sao Pedro Do Boldro. There was a snack bar and a large lawn
extending to a cliff that overlooked the beautiful Americano Beach. I was surprised to learn that the old fort
(now nothing but the foundation remains) was the location of a US missile
surveillance installation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #383838;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The area is known as the best place on the island to view
the sunset and as it got closer to sunset crowds of people arrived until the
lawn was full. I found it interesting
that few people had cameras and most of the people were using cell phones with
many attempting to take selfies with the setting sun in the background. We were there for an hour and finally the setting
sun was engulfed in clouds before it passed below the horizon.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our tour was over and on the drive back to the hotel the
gang decided that lunch was so much they were just going to snack for dinner
and asked <span style="color: #383838;">Samuel</span> to dropped us off at the
grocery store. They seemed to know what
they wanted to buy but I took a little longer to find that they had readymade
sandwiches and cashews that I bought for supper so by the time I exited the
store in the dark the others had left.
As I walked up to the turn off the paved highway towards the hotel I saw
Lorraine near the TV-FM building realizing she had missed the turn off to the
hotel but she was reversing directions and turned up the right road, I
thought. I walked to the hotel and
didn’t see any of the group.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Back in my room I called Judy. It was a very poor connection. I received some emails on my smart phone but
couldn’t process them on my laptop. Very
frustrating!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I decided to write in my journal and found my laptop very
sluggish with a lot of activity in the background. I started checking to see was applications
were running and found Dropbox was trying to index my Outlook files. Somehow the “My Documents” folder had been
copied into a sub file in my Dropbox. It
took an hour to delete the folder from Dropbox.
It sure freed up a lot of space on my disk drive but it delayed my
writing in my journal. I went to bed at
23:00 somewhat exhausted from the snorkeling.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Wednesday, October 1,
2014: </b>Free Day in Fernando de Noronha<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I awoke at 07:00 after a sound eight hour’s sleep. People started arriving at the breakfast room
outside my window so I decided to eat before I showered and shaved. The great scrambled eggs were a little too
salty but still were good.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After breakfast I laid my snorkeling gear out in the sun to
dry. The reef shoes were stubborn until
I pulled out the innersole and discovered trapped water in little
indentations. Once I pulled out the
innersole and washed them and laid them out separately the shoes started to
dry.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My right hamstring was tight from the snorkeling so I
decided to not go to the beach and attempt to snorkel or swim and instead to
walk around the island. At lunch time I
invited Loraine to join me to walk into the village for a light lunch.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Loraine told me that the night before the gang had gotten
lost walking to the hotel before I left the store. I told her I had seen her up the road in
front of the TV-FM station and that I saw her turn around and walk back to the
correct exit. What I didn’t know was at
the exit she and Mary walked straight instead of veering to the right and they
were so lost they stopped for assistance and found a Doctor who spoke
English. He did not know the location of
the hotel so he called the number Mary had for the hotel and the receptionist
directed him to the hotel. He led them
towards the hotel and started down the wrong path again and had to call a
second time to steer in the right direction.
I am so glad I took the first trip to scout out the ticket office in the
light of day. They found Lynn waiting
for them since Mary had the key to their room.
He had walked around the TV-FM station and a man watering a garden spoke
English and had directed him to the hotel.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After walking around the village for almost an hour we
stopped at the Flamboyant Restaurant that <span style="color: #383838;">Samuel</span>
had recommended. It had a self-service buffet
where they charged by the weight of the food you selected. We both had a small salad which is what I
wanted, so we were satisfied we picked the right place to eat. On the way back to the hotel we discovered
the grocery store closed for lunch. We
didn’t need to buy anything but being from California we were surprised that a
grocery store would ever close.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My snorkeling equipment had finally dried by the time I
returned from lunch and I packed it away.
I then wrote in my journal and called Judy on Vonage. It was still a bad connection but we were
able to communicate.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The walking had not helped my hamstring so I spent the
afternoon at the hotel. Loraine and Lynn
were taking advantage of the hammocks that hung outside our rooms. I wrote a lot in my journal.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At 18:00 we decided to walk to the village for dinner. The ladies remembered to take their
flashlights. We stopped at Xica Da Siva,
the first restaurant past the grocery store where the hotel receptionist had
recommended. <span style="color: #383838;">Samuel</span>
had not endorsed the recommendation but we were very impressed with our meals I
had fish filet covered with butter sauce, capers, mushrooms, shrimp and
parsley; grated mashed potato and a salad.
It was one of the finest meals I have ever had. Lynn and Mary had beef and raved about their
meal. <span style="color: #383838;">Samuel</span>
was wrong and the hotel receptionist was right.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Back in the room (no one got lost walking home) I updated my
journal and retired.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Thursday, October 2,
2014: </b>Fly from Fernando de Noronha to Recife<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I had not set my alarm but I woke at 07:00 to the noise of
the first couples eating breakfast across from my side window. I postponed taking a shower and walked over
to have breakfast first. The great
scrambled eggs that I described on Tuesday had been a little too salty on
Wednesday and Loraine told us she had told the cook so on Thursday they were
back to the same delicious taste.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After breakfast I returned to my room, showered, shaved and
packed. Check out time was scheduled for
noon but our transfer was not scheduled until 13:00. I processed email and wrote in my journal.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When we checked out at noon we sat in the air conditioned
reception office and waited for Samuel to pick us up. It was 14:00 when he arrived with a bus
pulling a trailer for the luggage. We
were the first pickups on his route. We
stopped at several small hotels picking up additional passengers until the bus
was full. When we reached the airport
and retrieved our luggage we found the airport terminal to be packed. As we started to stand in line everyone
motioned for us to enter the special line where a sign hung stating that in
Brazil people over 60 years old were given special priority. We checked in rather quickly and breezed
through the exit process where we had to surrender the forms they gave us on
entry and security.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The plane took off on schedule and arrived at the gate in
Recife at 16:00. A Gray Line Tours agent
met us outside baggage claim and provided a bus to take us to our hotel. I was assigned a room on the fifth floor and
was surprised to discover an outlet on each side of the bed with American
style. Since we had not had lunch the
group decided to leave for dinner at 17:30.
The hotel recommended some restaurants which were the same my guide had
recommended on Sunday. I lead the group
to Entre Amigos that faced the beach. We
had a good meal but the waiter did not follow our instructions for one check
for Lynn and Mary and separate checks for Lorraine and me. At first he gave Lynn one check for all of
us, then one for Lynn and Mary and another for Lorraine and me. It took the head waiter to sort it out.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We stopped at a delicatessen on the way back to the hotel to
purchase water. Back in my room I wrote
in my journal and retired at 23:00.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Friday, October 3,
2014: </b>Fly from Recife to VCP, transfer to GRU and fly to IAD<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The group were scheduled for a 08:00 Gray Line tour of
Recife and Olinda. I woke at 07:00 and
went to breakfast before taking a shower so I could bid them good by. I may not see Lorraine and Mary again since
my next trip will be with just Lynn on the repeat and completion of the Antarctic
Expedition in March 2015.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After seeing them off on their tour I returned to my room,
showered and packed for my flight home.
My flight was scheduled for 13:30 so I checked out at 11:00 and took a
taxi to the airport. I was the only one
in line at the check-in counter so I asked them for advice on how to
economically transfer from the Viracopos Airport (VCP) to the Guarulhos
International Airport (GRU) in Sao Paula.
They told me that Azul Airlines provided a free bus service to Campinas
the city closes to VCP and from there is a bus to Guarulhos. Since I had four hours between flights I
should have been able to make it. Security was
a bit of a hassle. I had to dump my
carry-on again but everything was OK and I entered the departure hall and
discovered that there was a lounge for American Express card holders. It was nice and not very crowded. As it got close to departure I walked to the
gate and stopped to eat a tuna sandwich.
The flight took off on schedule and arrived in Viracopos twenty minutes
early.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When I exited baggage claim I searched for the Azul counter
where I could find out about the bus. I
couldn’t find an Azul office so I stopped at the information desk. After a bit of discussion they recommend that
I take a bus and pointed me to the bus line ticket office. There I purchased a ticket to Guarulhos for
US$14 for a bus immediately departing. A
flight attendant that was also taking the bus led me to it. It took fifteen minutes to get to the Campinas
bus station where I had to wait another fifteen minutes for the bus to Guarulhos.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The ride to Guarulhos started out fairly quickly but when we
exited the toll road and entered into the highway from Sao Paula central to the
airport it slowed down as we were caught in Friday night rush hour
traffic. I finally reached the airport
at 20:00 and my flight was scheduled for 21:00.
Unfortunately the bus ended at terminal 2 and I had to take a shuttle
bus to terminal 3 where United operated.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I didn’t get to the United counters until 20:20 and they
told me they cut off the check in for my flight at 20:15 and had me rebooked on
a 22:00 flight to Washington and on to LAX arriving just an hour later.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After checking in I went to the United Lounge and attempted
to connect to WiFi and call Judy on Vonage.
For some reason my smart phone would not display the login screen for me
to use the Lounge password. As it got
closer to departure I just called Judy on the cell phone and told her of my new
arrival time and asked her to call the car service.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I had a very good seat on a middle aisle with no one next to
me. The plan departed on schedule. I watched the movie “Chef” while I had dinner
and then was able to sleep.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Saturday, October 4,
2014:</b> Fly from IAD to LAX</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
A flight attendant woke me for breakfast after sleeping over
five hours. The plane landed at Dulles
at 06:25 and I breezed through Passport Control using a Global Entry
kiosk. I had just one hour between
flights and the IAD to LAX flight left on time and arrived at 10:40, one and a
half hours later than my original schedule.
The car service driver was there to greet me and I was home before
noon. The quick trip was over.<o:p></o:p></div>
Edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03034021752003929779noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2230692068076603436.post-16166299913766568732014-07-14T22:35:00.002-07:002014-07-14T22:35:52.901-07:00Wallis Island Tour Journal – June 2014<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Overview:</b> <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My tour of Wallis Island, Wallis & Futuna was the fifth
stop on the Pacific Island Nations tour scheduled with Advantage Travel &
Tours, Poway, California. The trip was a
set tour by Advantage Travel; they called South Pacific Islands Explorer. I was traveling with Lynn Bishop, Mary Warren
and Bob Ihsen with whom I just had visited Kiribati, Samoa, Niue and New
Caledonia.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This journal starts as I leave New Caledonia to fly to
Wallis Island via Fiji.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Saturday, June, 28, 2014:</b> Fly Noumea, New Caledonia to
Mata-Utu, Wallis Island via Nadi, Fiji<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I awoke to my alarm at 04:30 to shower before Bob got
up. I packed and we went down to the
lobby at 06:00 to settle the bill. Our
airport transfer driver arrived a few minutes later. He told us it was his first day on the
job. Lynn and Mary came down at 06:15
and we departed to the airport shortly thereafter. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It took an hour to arrive at the airport. Our flight on Aircalin to Wallis stopped in
Nadi so it had a lot of passengers in line to check in. We checked in as a group and as a result my
overweight bag was offset by the other’s lighter bags. After check in we stopped at a coffee shop
for a small bit to eat since we had not had breakfast. We then proceeded to Passport Control and
Security.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When I got to the gate I sat near the boarding check desk so
when they called the flight and they called in by row number which I was in the
first group I was one of the first to board.
I had an aisle seat with an open seat next to me. The flight took off on time, breakfast was
served and I read on the hour and forty minute flight to Nadi. When we landed in Nadi the pilot welcomed us
to New Caledonia before he corrected himself. Before he turned off the seat
belt sign half the passengers got up and were getting their bags from the
overhead when a flight attendant started down the aisle with bug spray. Stupid timing and they should have told
everyone to stay in their seat until after the spray. They had not informed us if the Wallis
passengers were to stay on the aircraft or get off. When she reached my seat with the spray I
asked her if Wallis passengers had to get off or stay on and I guess she really
didn’t comprehend my English so I didn’t get a straight answer and asked her again. She looked confused and finally after asking
her a third time she said everyone had to depart with their carry-ons.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Inside we got in the Transit line and I was issued a new
boarding pass and then went through Security again. At Security I had to remove my belt and watch
and they squeezed me down then when over me with the wand and then squeezed my
leg again. They also went through my day
pack. Needless to say it was a longer
time than I had been experiencing on the trip.
I was not happy since I thought the whole thing was ridiculous. At Christmas Island where I would have liked
to get off they wouldn’t let us leave the ramp area and in Nadi we had to get
off. I guess they hoped we would
purchase something in their shops.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I used the rest room and then wandered to the gate about the
time they started loading. I was the
first one and when I reached the air bridge a young lady stopped me to wait
until the wheelchairs had come back out of the aircraft. While we were waiting she told me that her
good friend had been shot and killed in Sacramento by a gang. He was on an athletic scholarship and was
wearing his high school colors which was the same as a gangs color and was shot
trying to assist a friend who was shot first.
Senseless! She told me the body
had just been returned that Monday.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I had the same open seat next to me as one the first
leg. They served a tuna sandwich and I
read on the little over one hour flight.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When we landed at Wallis Island it was pouring rain and the
pilot touched down on the right wheel and bounced to the left wheel before he
got both sets of wheels on the ground.
As we waited to deplane I put on my rain jacket. At the exit I found they had a covered
stairway and at the bottom they were handing each passenger an umbrella to use
as they walked across the ramp. I had
the hood up on my rain jacket and didn’t take an umbrella. There was only one agent checking passports
so it was a little slow but the bags were just starting to be loaded on the
belt. We could see through open brick
lacing the aircraft and the baggage handlers at work. They were emptying the aft cargo hold first
which had very few passenger bags. We
waited and waited and then when all the cargo was off loaded they moved to the
front cargo compartment and started off loading passenger bags. Bob’s bag came on the first cart and Mary and
mine on the second cart. I was concerned
they might inspect mine so I exited the baggage area and proceeded to Customs
where they were inspecting bags. They
passed me without inspection and I exited into a sea of people. No one had a sign with our names on it nor
was there a sign for the hotel. I moved
out of the crowd and a young man came up to me and said he was Chris, a friend
of Bob and Cathy Prada and he was taking us to the hotel.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The other’s exited (Lynn’s bag was the last off) and met
Chris. For a small island there sure
were a lot of people at the airport. Chris
told me it was for a group of students from the Catholic School returning from
a trip to New Caledonia. He told us to
wait and he would bring the van around. It took a while but we finally loaded
our bags in a dilapidated van. He had
arranged for us to stay at the Hotel Moana Hou on the water front on the east
side of the island in the village of Liku near, Mata-Utu the capital of the
Territory.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The ride to the hotel took us down and along the waterfront
along the east shore. The wind was still
blowing from the storm when we turned into the courtyard of a three story
building. The ground floor was one big
open room with a dining area to the east end the reception desk on the south
wall next to the entrance and a bar on the north wall.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There was no registration and we seemed to be just waiting
for someone to do something so I asked if they had Wi-Fi and they started to
help me log in. That appeared to get
things rolling and they announced that they were ready to take our bags to our
rooms. We exited the front door and
climbed up steeps. Lynn and Mary were in
a room on the second floor. Bob and I
had separate rooms on the third floor.
My room had a balcony that faced the ocean and it was right over Lynn
and Mary’s room. Bob was across the hall
and his balcony faced the courtyard and had a view of the ocean.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The TVs didn’t work.
I unplugged mine to use the outlet for my laptop. I had to use the refrigerator outlet for my
CPAP machine and plug the refrigerator into an outlet in the closet.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We set up our rooms until Chris was taking us on a tour at
17:00. The Wi-Fi signal was poor in my
room so I went down to the lobby at 16:00 to call Judy and process email on my
smart phone. The others came down at
17:00 and Chris arrived at few minutes later and we departed at 17:20 riding
south along the coast to Mata-Utu.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Mata-Utu is the capital of the volcanic island group of
Wallis & Futuna, officially the French Territory of Wallis and Futuna
Islands. Smaller islands in the group
were first sighted by the Dutch in 1616 but the main island was not found until
1767 by British Captain Samuel Wallis who gave the island its name. It was the French who settled the islands in
1837. A treaty established the islands
as a French Protectorate in 1887. In 1962
it became a French Territory and in 2003, the islands' status was changed to a
French Overseas Collectivity (each collectivity has its own statutory laws
similar to French Polynesia, Mayotte and Saint Pierre & Miquelon). Besides Wallis and Futuna, there is one other
island, Alofi, whose inhabitants were eaten by the Futuna cannibals during a
19th Century raid plus 20 uninhabited islets.
The population numbers only about 15,500 with only 1,000 living in the
Mata-Utu. There were about 17 villages
on Wallis Island. Wallis has a King and
on Futuna there are two Kings. There is
a French High Commissioner and a unicameral Territorial Assembly with 20
members.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Chris drove us to the Supermarket where Lynn and Mary could
buy snacks and Bob and I could buy water.
We then rode to a large shopping mall where Chris had a museum dedicated
to the USMC stationed on Wallis Island during WWII. When we entered the one room I was
immediately impressed by the display on the back wall of a banner that read:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
WELCOME<o:p></o:p></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
FORMER MARINES<o:p></o:p></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
8<sup>TH</sup> AAA
DEFENSE<o:p></o:p></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
BATTLION<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The banner was flanked on the left by an American flag and
on the right by the 8<sup>th</sup> AAA BN flag.
Along both walls and in the center were display cases of
memorabilia. On top of the back wall
display cases were blue colored Coke bottles on the left and clear bottles on
the right. The blue bottles were shipped
from the US and had the name of the US city on the bottom and the date the
bottle was made on the side. The clear
bottles were manufactured outside the US.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On top of other display cases were rows of beer
bottles. In the display case were items
from the area that Chris had collected from around the island. He had two jeep grills and a jeep engine on
display plus models of jeeps and ambulances in the cases. Below some of the cases were crates filled with
bullets and others filled with shell casings.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On the wall were pictures of the Marines landing, the two
air fields they constructed, the Marines plowing a field, their tent camp,
Marines marching and the Wallis King shaking the hand of the Marine
Commander. Chris also had scrap books of
pictures that Marine veterans had sent him.
He has had several veterans visit the island and he had attended a unit
reunion in the US.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One page in a scrap book described the Marine operation as
follows:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>The
8<sup>th</sup> Antiaircraft Artillery Battalion was originally activated as the
8<sup>th</sup> Defense Battalion on 1 April 1942 at Tutuila, Samoa. On 25 May 1942 the advanced echelon of the
battalion sailed on board the USS SWAIN for Wallis Island, arriving on 27 May
1942. The second echelon arrived at
Wallis Island on 31 May and the third echelon on 4 June 1942. On 28 May 1942 the 8<sup>th</sup> Defense
Battalion (Reinforced) was attached to Defense Force, Wallis Islands.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That page also had a map that showed the current airport as
the Bomber runway and near the south end of the island was a fighter runway. Chris told me that nothing remains of the
fighter runway. He also told us the
French High Commissioner for the island was loyal to the Vichy French
government so the USMC was expecting resistance when they landed. What they did not know was the Free French
officials in Noumea had sent a ship to Wallis and arrested the High
Commissioner and replaced him with an official loyal to Free French a short
time before the USMC arrival.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Chris was a wealth of information on the USMC operation on
Wallis. He was such a fanatic that he
named his daughter Marine.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
From his museum we rode to dinner at a restaurant in a home
setting called Una-Una. It was 18:50 and
we were the first ones to arrive for the evening meal. (Those Americans eat too early for the French!). The served a starter of a delicious scallop
and lobster bisque with fresh French bread.
The main was a half a large lobster.
Chris and I split a bottle of Alsace Pinot Gris. I also had a beer. For dessert they served us a strawberry
sundae. It was a great meal for such a
small island. Chris continued to tell us
about the island and his relationship with Cathy and Bob Prada. He has visited their house in Poway, California. He had entertained the group on the trip I
had to leave due to an infected leg in 2008 and also Terry and Linda, two of
our traveling colleagues when they visited the island so we shared stories
about our travel with Cathy and Bob.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Even though we started early it was after 22:00 when we left
the restaurant. I retired shortly after
returning to my room.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Sunday, June, 29, 2014:</b> Tour Wallis Island<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I woke before 07:00 and after a tepid shower I went down to
the lobby for breakfast. I called Judy
on Vonage and after the call the rest of our group arrived and they served us a
continental breakfast of pieces of French bread and a croissant with tea and
orange juice. After breakfast I returned
to my room and prepared for a day of touring the island.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Chris picked us up in the van a few minutes after 09:00 and
we headed north to the Saint Pierre church which was a large church at the
north end of the island. It was St.
Peter and Paul (Saint Pierre et Paul) Day on the island and two of the churches
had ceremonial dances. The church had a
four story square tower with balconies on each floor and a cone shaped
top. When we got out of the van it
started to rain. We took a few pictures
of the dancers and a field full of dead hogs on their backs on a bead of coconuts
in a basket made of banana leaves. The
hog’s feet were sticking straight up in the air high and each one had a name on
a piece of paper at the hole where they were stuffed. The dancers were sitting under a shelter
waiting for the rain to stop. Chris
decided we should visit the festival at the other end of the island so we climbed
aboard the van and returned down the same Rt 1 highway with a brief stop at the
Supermarket for Chris to purchase fresh bread and then on to Tepa Village’s
Church of the Sacred Heart. That church
had the five stories with balconies but the first two stories were half round
and only the top three round. It looked
like a lighthouse with the first two stories ringed with louver windows.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It had stopped raining and the dancing had started. I counted 50 dead hogs and one huge dead sow.
the sow was as large as a pickup truck and must have weight over 1,000
lbs. The pigs were being loaded into the
back of pickup trucks during the dancing and delivered to the various villages
and families around the island. We
watched the ceremonies for an hour.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
During the fest, the singer of the band dancing would say a
name of a village chief, for example Mata-Utu's chief and the chief would then
give money to the dancers. Then another
singer would say the name of another village chief and everyone would sing and
dance for a few minutes and then stop.
Then another announcement again and they would sing and dance for a few
minutes. None of the dances were very
long. During the lulls between dances
people were moving through the dancers and pinning money in the girl’s hair or
down the front of the men’s shirts.
Chris said the money was a fund raiser for the villages.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We watched from the west side for a while and then moved
over to the east side near the church,
There was a long building running east and west with a porch that was
lined with dignitaries. The dancers were
facing that building. The church had a
wide walkway circling it up several steps.
The walkway was full of spectators.
When we moved to the west side we were standing between the church and
the dancers. The one TV station on the
island was set up taping the dancing and in between dances, interviewing old
ladies.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A well-dressed in European style blond haired lady in her
sixties approached Chris and then was introduced to us. She was German and married to a relative of
the King. She was as out of place as we
were in the festivities where everyone was in bright colored Hawaiian style
shirts and skirts. The dancers also had flower
leis and color ribbons attached to their clothing. It was colorful sight!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We left after an hour and rode to the spot where the USMC
landed. Some ramps they constructed
still remain. Chris showed us the spots
where some of the pictures on the wall of his museum were taken. We walked around the area past a chapel that
was being expanded into a church to a beach of racing canoes. A group of boys were playing in the water and
snorkeling around a concrete pillar used to moor a boat. As we headed back to the van pickup trucks
were arriving with food for a feast in the village meeting hall across from the
chapel. A pig was delivered and the
truck rode off to drop another pig somewhere else.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A woman ran up to Chis with a package of food wrapped in a
banana leaf and a coconut for each one of us.
We thanked the ladies and boarded the van. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our next stop was a view point of a cluster
of islets. Chris told us those islets
were ones that Club Med wanted to build a resort on but the islanders did not
want the tourist trade and the King denied their request. Wallis and Futuna is an unusual territory in
they do not generate any revenue for France.
It is not clear why the kept the islands and kept funding them. They have no tourist infrastructure and don’t
want any.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We then stopped at Chris’s house where he delivered the
bread and returned to the van with a bag of paper plates and forks. Resuming our tour we rode for about 10
minutes and turned off the highway to Talietumu, the island’s archeological
site. It was a huge area fortified with
lava rock dating back to 1450. There we
opened the banana leaf package and found it contained a native root plant
cooked in coconut milk. It was not to
our liking. The coconuts we couldn’t
open. Thank goodness I had an energy bar
in my day pack. The French bread was
delicious.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After our lunch Chris, Bob
and I walked around the grounds. There
was a large plateau surrounded by a large area of lava rock which was difficult
to walk on. I read in the Lonely Planet
that the King did not have his feet touch the ground. I had pity for the poor men that had to carry
him across the area. In front of the
area was the remains of several guard posts.
Down from the bed of lava rocks Chris said was the area were they
roasted humans. The natives that resided
in Talietumu were thought to be cannibals.
I found a way in back of the patio where I could walk around the lava
rock area. The grass was a little high
and wet in some spots but it was easier on my feet.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our next site to visit was the Lausikula Church which was a
large church under construction on a point away from any populated area. Chris said it was a sort of make work project
all done by volunteers ‘buying’ their way into heaven. It had a strange architecture and the top
floors appeared to be completed and painted but the bottom floors were still
under construction. Chris said when
completed it would be the largest church on the island but will only conduct
services once a year. The tide was out
and it was not a pretty sight. After a
few minutes looking around and taking pictures we continued our journey.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The next stop was at Lake Lalolalo a
spectacular sight. The lake is a circle
with sheer rocky cliffs 100 feet high with colorful streaks of brown and gold
in the cliffs. The Lonely Planet stated
that it was believed that the USMC dumped equipment in the lake when they left
the island at the end of WWII. Chris has
scuba dove in the lake and found no evidence of military equipment. In his conversations with the veterans
stationed on the island they told him that equipment was loaded on barges and
dumped in the sea beyond the reef that circles the island. Chris has dived in areas outside the reef
where he has found USMC equipment.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
From the lake we returned to the main road around the
island. It was interesting to note that
Rt 1 on the east side of the island is a well paved two lane road with a white
line down the middle whereas Rt 1 on the west side of the island is a dirt
road. It is an indicator that the vast
majority of the inhabitants reside on the east side.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We branch to the center of the island to drive up Mt. Lulu
Fakahega, the highest point on the island.
On the way up the mountain we passed the only high school on the
island. It had a large campus with many
buildings. We stopped at a view point
with a large white cross. There we
walked around and took pictures of the east side of the island and the
islets. When we rode down the mountain
we stopped at the entrance of the high school to take pictures.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our tour was over and on the way back to the hotel Chris
drove past the Post Office to show Bob if he wanted to walk to it in the
morning. Chris dropped us at the hotel
at 14:00.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I spent the afternoon writing in my journal and processing
emails. At 19:00 we gathered for dinner
in the hotel dining area. They served us
baked fish and a mound of rice. For
dessert they served two scoops of ice cream.
It was my last dinner with the group.
They will continue on their visits to islands while I return to LA.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After dinner I returned to my room, wrote in my journal,
washed my underwear and at first tried to hang them on the air conditioner unit
on the balcony to dry but the wind was so strong I was afraid they would be
blown away so I hung them in the bathroom.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I retired about 23:00.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Monday, June, 30, 2014:</b> Fly Wallis Island to LAX via Nadi, Fiji<b><o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I had set my alarm for 07:30 but woke at 06:30 and decided
to get up and go down to the lobby before taking a shower. I called Judy on Vonage and processed
email. They served me breakfast at 07:00
and after I finished I returned to my room.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My underwear had not thoroughly dried in the bath room so in
the day light I found a place to hang them outside with no fear of their
blowing away. I then took my laptop down
to the lobby to get it in sync with my smartphone. The others arrived and I sat next to them as
they had breakfast. Nobody had real hot
water, I guess because of the cloudy conditions the previous days. The hotel uses solar hot water heaters.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When they finished breakfast we all returned
to our rooms and I showered and packed.
I used my own washcloth and hung it out to dry when I retrieved my
underwear which had dried in the strong wind and sunshine. At 10:00 I found my washcloth had already
dried so I finished packing and closed down my computer at 10:45. I carried my bags down to reception and sat
with others as we waited for Chris to drive us to the airport.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Chris arrived about 11:10 with his daughter,
Marine, and a playmate. I loaded
everyone’s bags into the van and sat in the front seat. We then departed and on the way stopped at
the post office for Bob to purchase a post card, write a message, purchase a
stamp and mail it. It required Bob to
visit two buildings in the complex to accomplish the task.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When Bob and Chris returned to the van Chris’s wife
arrived. We were introduced and I took a
family picture of Chris, his wife, daughter and playmate. She was a beautiful woman. She then took the two children and we
departed for the airport.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There was no one checking in when we reached the
counter. The agent did not have baggage
tags for Nandi and had to tag our bags with a Noumea tag and scratch through
the NOU and write Nandi by hand on the tag.
She told me my bag was overweight and Chris talked her into not charging
me for excess baggage. He cautioned me
that Fiji Airways would not be forgiving.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The passport check went fast but Security was a hassle. They would not let Lynn carry empty beer cans
on board and made him return to the counter retrieve his bag and pack them in
his checked bag. They went through all
my bags and took a bottle of sanitizer in the pocket of my vest and put it in a
plastic bag. They put Lynn’s Chap Stick
in a plastic bag.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When we were waiting for the aircraft we were talking about
all the craziness and the fact everyone’s baggage tag said Noumea. I searched for mine and realized in all the
discussion about excess weight I failed to get my copy of the baggage tag. I tried to return to the check in counter but
the Security Agent said I could get the tag at the gate.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Soon a ticket agent arrived and I told her of my
dilemma. She called someone and wrote
the baggage tag number on the back of my boarding pass.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We boarded the plane late and took off late. For some reason we sat at the end for ten
minutes and the crew never gave us an explanation. I had a whole row to myself and was able to
take some pictures of the island, the outer reef and the channel through the
reef during climb out. We were served a
meal during the flight. I was wearing my
retired USAF hat and the older male flight attendant stopped to talk to
me. When I told him I was from LA he
told me that he had visited it many times and had toured the Vintage Aircraft
Museum in Chino and the aircraft storage facility at the Mojave Air and Space
Port. He also had visited the USAF
Museum in Ohio and the Air and Space Museums in Washington DC.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We landed at Fiji thirty minutes late at 15:15 and I had a
long layover before my 21:40 flight to LAX so I didn’t mind. I walked slowly to the passport check. The agent questioned why I wasn’t going through
the transit lane. I told them I might
take tour of the city. He told me that
they would not be processing the LAX flight until 18:00 and sent me on my way.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When I exited the Baggage and Customs area a Taxi
Coordinator talked to me. I asked about
a city tour and what sites to see. He
told me the main site was the Sri Siva Subramaniya Swami Temple and I could
check my bag at a Hold Baggage counter in the Domestic Terminal and
return. He would then set me up with a
driver. The rest of our group needed to
go to the Domestic Terminal because they were flying on to Suva for the night
and then on to Tuvalu the next day. I
had visited Tuvalu in 2008 so I was returning home.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When we entered the Departure Terminal I saw that the Fiji
Airways for LAX check in counter and it had a sign that they would accept early
check in at 16:30 which is less than an hour away so I decided to setup my
laptop at a café to wait and skip the site seeing trip.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The others sat with
me. Mary checked to see if they could
take an earlier flight and was told they would have to pay a rebooking fee
which they decided to change. They then
sat with me for a while and watched my carry on and laptop as I checked in at
16:30. After the 17:00 flight to Suva
departed Mary tried again and that time they let them change without the extra
fee. So we bid farewell and I packed up
and walked to Security. They had me pass
through the x-ray twice, remove my belt and watch and even though I showed them
the scar on my knee they moved the wand up and down and around my knee several
time and then squeezed my leg. I finely
was cleared to go.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The International
departure area is a little different in Nandi.
It has two levels and the departure gates are on the upper level which
is one big room with a snack bar in the middle and one in a corner. The sides of the room have shops and the
seats ring around the center snack bar.
I went to the corner snack bar and ordered a drink and hot dog with the
last Fiji money I had. When I finished I
searched for an electrical outlet to plug in my laptop and update my
journal. The only one that I found that
was not in use was near the entrance to the toilets. I had to string my power cord across the path
to the toilets to the bench where I could setup my laptop. I laid my carry-on bag across the power cord
to warn people to dot trip on the cord.
They had to step over the bag to get to the toilet on that side of the
room.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When my flight was
called I packed up and found that they had several lines and the one closest to
me had only a few people lined up so I was able to board fairly quickly. It was an A-330 twin aisle and I had an aisle
seat in the middle four seats. A Fijian
woman and her two children from Sacramento occupied the other seats in the
row. The young boy sat next to me.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The flight pushed back near the scheduled
departure time and took off 25 minutes after.
I watched the movie Muppets Most Wanted during the meal service. When the movie ended and my tray was removed
I donned my sun glasses and closed my eyes and fell asleep. I had re set my watch to LA time and the last
I remember it was 03:50. Although the
young boy squirmed in his seat and woke me a few times I would immediately fall
back to sleep until I saw that it was 10:50.
I couldn’t believe I slept for seven hours. They served a breakfast and we landed in LA
at 13:45.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I called Judy and she told me
she had a doctor’s appointment when I would arrive at the house while we were
taxiing to the gate knowing they don’t let you use your cell phone in the
passport control and customs areas.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I love Global
Entry. It was my first time to process
through Passport Control at the remodeled Tom Bradley International Terminal
and although there were a lot of Agents on duty the lines were long at all
their stations. They had many Global
Entry kiosks so I just walked up to one, slid in my passport, answered the
questions on the screen and out came a printed form to take to Customs. When I retrieved my bag from the baggage
carousel I walked down a Global Entry lane to the Customs agent and was
outdoors in no time.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I turned on my cell
phone and saw that the car service driver had called so I called him back and
couldn’t understand half of what he was saying except to wait at the Prime Time
Shuttle stop. The signage to the shuttle
pick up areas is not very clear at the remodeled terminal but I eventually
found the place and the car arrived. On
the way home I called my daughter and brother.
As I got close to Woodland Hills I found out that the driver was from
Armenia but that he was a proud Russian and didn’t consider himself an
Armenian. He had a very thick accent and
I had difficulty understanding him even in the car. When he exited the 101 he took a wrong turn
and got very defensive when I told him the correct way. Eventually he got me home.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
It had been an
interesting trip.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I am still pinching
myself in disbelief that I am one of less than one hundred people in the world
that has visited all the countries in the UN.
It has been an adventure to say the least.<o:p></o:p></div>
Edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03034021752003929779noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2230692068076603436.post-66736887762426293542014-07-12T14:52:00.002-07:002014-07-12T14:52:34.743-07:00New Caledonia Tour Journal – June 2014<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Overview:</b> <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My tour of New Caledonia was the fourth stop on the Pacific
Island Nations tour scheduled with Advantage Travel & Tours, Poway,
California. The trip was a set tour by
Advantage Travel; they called South Pacific Islands Explorer. I was traveling with Lynn Bishop, Mary Warren
and Bob Ihsen with whom I just had visited Kiribati, Samoa and Niue.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This journal starts as I arrive in Auckland, New Zealand
from Niue, to layover waiting for my flight to New Caledonia.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Wednesday, June, 25, 2014:</b> In flight from Niue to Auckland,
New Zealand<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When we landed in Auckland we had crossed the International
Date Line so it was Wednesday. We
checked into the Novotel Airport, a short walk in the rain from the
International Arrivals Terminal. They
assigned us a room with twin beds on the Premier Floor.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For diner I walked back to the terminal Food Court. It had stopped raining. I ate a three piece KFC chicken dinner. It was the first time I had had KFC chicken
in years since they had closed the two near our house that we used to sometimes
purchase for the Sunday Concerts in the Park.
I liked the chicken and their coleslaw at the food court.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After dinner I returned to my room and processed email and
wrote in my journal until 22:30.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Thursday, June, 26, 2014:</b> Fly Auckland, New Zealand to Noumea, New Caledonia<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It felt nice to not have to rise to an alarm and I slept
until 07:30. Bob had already risen and
was taking a shower so I called Judy on Vonage while I waited for my turn in
the bathroom. We went down to breakfast
around 08:30. Lynn and Mary were just
finishing. It was a buffet with some
interesting offerings. One hot dish was
small cubes of steak which enabled me to have steak and eggs. They also had a machine that turned oranges
into juice which enabled me to get a whole orange from the top of the
machine. We returned to our room to pack
and update our journals.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At 11:00 we checked out and walked across the road to the
terminal. I saw on the departures board
that the flight to Noumea was a code share with Air New Zealand. I tried to check in at the Air New Zealand
Premier Counter but since I was flying on an Air Caledonia or Airclain as they
liked to be called ticket I had to go to counter 25. At that counter there was no line and the
four of us got checked in. The agent
tried to enter my Star Alliance Gold number in the reservation but it would not
accept it for miles but would accept it for service.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Bob and I then walked over to the Air New
Zealand Premier room and took the elevator to Immigration and Security. We passed through security quickly and walked
to the Air New Zealand Lounge. They
rejected my access since I was not on the Air New Zealand ticket so we returned
to the Departure Hall to wait for our gate to be listed. I found a counter near Burger King that had
electrical outlets where I plugged in my laptop and cellphone and wrote in my
journal until an hour before boarding.
Bob arrived and we ate a Burger King cheeseburger. I then packed up and walked to the boarding
area. They were just boarding Business
Class. I took a picture of the aircraft
tail registration and boarded the plane with the Economy Class passengers.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The plane was an A-330-200 twin aisle and I had a whole
middle row to myself. It took a while to
load the plane and all the announcements were first spoken in French and then
in English. I was able to watch a couple
of TV shows waiting for takeoff and then a lousy movie ‘He's Just Not That Into
You’ after takeoff. They served a hot
meal with free booze.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Upon landing in Noumea we encountered a little wait at the
passport check because of the large load of passengers. When I got to the luggage belt my bag was
already on it. I was the first through
Customs and outside the terminal greeted with my name on a sign. The driver didn’t speak much English and we
were crammed into a Kia minivan. Lynn
sat in front with Mary squeezed between Bob and I in the back seat. The driver was a retired French cop and
insisted we wear seat belts in the back which were difficult for the three of
us to attach.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We were booked into the Le Meriden hotel on the point of the
island over 40 km from the airport. It
took 55 minutes to drive to the hotel.
Our room was adequate. There was
a glass window between the shower and the room but shutters were in the room to
close over the window. Below the window
was a small shelf that could be used for my laptop. Next to it was a wall outlet so I took the bed
next to that arrangement. I had
difficulty using the wall outlet and a hotel Engineer had to come it to show me
how to get around the safety feature of the outlet.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At 19:00 Bob and I went to dinner. They were serving a buffet and it was one of
the best I have ever experienced but it was also one of the most
expensive. After dinner we returned to
the room and wrote in our journals.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Friday, June, 27, 2014:</b> Tour Noumea, New Caledonia<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I had set my alarm for 07:30 but woke before then and
showered and shave before then. Bob and
I went to breakfast at 07:15. It was an
extensive buffet and after over eating I went for a walk around the hotel
grounds. They had a large beautiful pool
and a nice sandy beach but the buildings along the beach were fenced off for
renovations. I returned to the hotel,
called Judy on Vonage and got ready to go on tour.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At 09:00 our local guide, Franck arrived. He spoke with a French accent but we could
understand him.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Noumea is the capital of New Caledonia which is a
"special Collectivity" of France but the currency is the CFP franc. French is the official language, although
English is common and the Melanesian languages are still used in the villages.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
New Caledonia's capital is a bastion of French culture. Yet just down the road, the indigenous Kanaks
dress in colorful ankle-length dresses while their sarong-clad husbands fish
the reef with spears for the evening's meal.
The stark contrast of modern and ancient cultures illustrates the
dichotomy of paradise: the natives who have survived a century of repression, and
the French settlers who represent the last surviving stronghold of white
colonialism in Melanesia. Just off the
coast, one of the longest barrier reef in the world shelters 350 species of
coral and 1,500 species of fish. Inland, a full third of the world's reserves
of nickel is mined, as well as other minerals such as tungsten, cobalt, copper
and manganese.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Captain Cook was the first European on the island, arriving
in 1774. Later Napoleon annexed New
Caledonia to house a penal colony. The
importation of foreign disease, however, virtually devastated the Kanak
population which declined by two-thirds.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Settled by both Britain and France during the first half of
the 19th century, the island became a French possession in 1853. It served as a
penal colony for four decades after 1864. Modern history has been dominated by WWII, the
discovery of nickel, and the Kanak struggle for self-rule. The territory was an important Allied base in
1942, and after the war the Kanaks were given French citizenship.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Agitation for independence during the 1980s and early 1990s
ended in the 1998 Noumea Accord, which over a period of 15 to 20 years will
transfer an increasing amount of governing responsibility from France to New
Caledonia. The agreement also commits
France to conduct a referendum between 2014 and 2018 to decide whether New
Caledonia should assume full sovereignty and independence. The population is estimated as 267,840.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Franck drove us in a Renault Trafic Van, up the east side of
the island past the Domestic Airport that serves the outer islands, to the Tjibaou
Cultural Center, located on the Tina peninsula.
It was architectural site to see.
It was designed by the famous architect Renzo Piano in a very modern
shape that gave the look of the Melanesian style. We took an hour to tour the center and the
grounds which included a Melanesian village with very tall cone shaped thatched
roofs. Throughout the rooms, hallways
and the grounds were Melanesian statues and art work.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Leaving the Culture Center we rode to Ouen Toro Hill for a
panoramic view over Noumea and seawards to the tropical islets and blue waters
protected by the barrier reef. Two
cannon from WW II sit on top of the hill.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Leaving the hill we rode through the city and up to the
Saint Joseph Cathedral built at the beginning of the 1900’s it sits on top of a
hill and has beautiful stained glass windows.
In the plaza alongside the church stands a statute of Saint Joseph
erected in 1901. We then rode to the
‘FOL’ Art Theater which was adorned with graffiti, some artfully done but it my
eye a tasteless ruination of art. We
stopped to take in the view below of a bay.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Outside the three Melanesian thatched roof buildings we saw
at the culture center, Noumea looks and feels like a French Riviera city. All the buildings are of French architecture. We even rode through the old section of the
city and stopped to tour several colonial homes with beautiful gardens on both
sides of the walk from the gate on the street to the steps of the front porch. The city even has a Latin Quarter, China
Town and a Vietnamese area. It has
casinos, and European shops. The local
ethnic people are called Kanaks and are descendants of European and North
Africans that were set to the island as prisoners and given land to settle
after they completed their sentences.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the harbor were large high speed ferries to take people
and vehicles to the outer islands of Mare, Isle of Pines, Lifou and Ouvea. We stopped at a Supermarket to purchase water
and snacks and were delivered back to the hotel by 13:00.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Bob and I decided to venture out for lunch. We walked out the front of the hotel and up a
steep driveway. Along the driveway was a
Casino that I remembered bordered on the street so we walked through the Casino
as a short cut. On the street we walked
down a hill to the waterfront and along the seawall to a group of
restaurants. We stopped at Le Fare Palm
Beach where we ate a sandwich.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I had noticed that when we reached the beach that looking up
the beach the distance to our hotel was a lot shorter than the route we took up
and down a hill. After lunch Bob decided
to walk along the beach to the north of the bay while I decided to return to
the hotel. I walked on the beach, past a
topless sunbather and came upon a woman and her two children that had been on
our flight into New Caledonia and had been in front of me at the passport
checkpoint. At the time I had noticed
she had a Canadian passport. She
recognized me also and we talked a bit while her kids played in the sand. A short distance on was a path to my hotel
pool.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Back in our room I wrote in my journal until dinner. Bob and I met Lynn and Mary and we ate in the
a la carte restaurant. I had the beef
fillet. The dinner was very French with
a small soup before the main course. The
meal was good but not as good as Brandywine, the local French restaurant that I
eat at in Woodland Hills.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After dinner we returned to our room and retired by 22:00.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
It had been a short visit to New Caledonia but I had visited
a few places that I had not visited on my previous stops in New Caledonia.<o:p></o:p></div>
Edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03034021752003929779noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2230692068076603436.post-61523600674913392852014-07-11T20:07:00.000-07:002014-07-11T20:07:23.612-07:00Samoas Tour Journal – June 2014<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Overview:</b> <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My tour of the Samoas was the second stop on the Pacific
Island Nations tour scheduled with Advantage Travel & Tours, Poway,
California to complete my visits to all the countries in the UN. The trip was a set tour by Advantage Travel;
they called South Pacific Islands Explorer.
I was traveling with Lynn Bishop, Mary Warren and Bob Ihsen with whom I just
had visited Tarawa.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Independent State of Samoa, formerly known as Western
Samoa was the last UN country for me to visit to complete my goal of visiting
every member country of the United Nations.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This journal starts as I arrive in Apia, Samoa, from Fiji.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>Tuesday, June, 17, 2014:</b> Arrive Apia and take a ferry to
and tour Savaii Island, Samoa<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We landed in Apia, Samoa at 01:40. I had accomplished my goal of visiting every
country in the UN!<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Apia had a little larger airport than Suva but not as large
as Nadi. Immigration processing was fast
since we were the only passengers in the building. When we entered the baggage claim I was
surprised to see and hear a band welcoming us to the country at the late hour
and the small flight. My bag was the
first off and Customs selected it for inspection so I ended up being the last
of our group to exit baggage claim. We
were met by a representative of the local tour agency and loaded in a bus for a
forty five minute ride to our hotel.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was 03:40 before I got to bed. We had a 06:15 scheduled departure by ferry
to Savaii Island, so I only got ninety minutes sleep. The hotel restaurant was not scheduled to
start until 06:30 but the desk staff gave us a full ‘English Breakfast’ (eggs,
bacon, sausage, baked beans and toast) on a tray which were able to eat before
the tour bus arrived. The ferry terminal
was near the airport so it was another forty five minute ride including a stop
to pick up additional tourists at a hotel near the Mulifanua Wharf ferry
terminal.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The ferry was large with over three decks. The walk on passengers had to sit on the top
deck. Our scheduled departure was listed
as 08:00 but they departed early and arrived at the Salelologa, Savaii Island ferry terminal a few minutes
after 09:00. Salelologa is the only
township on the island.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Savaii is the largest of the Samoan Islands and ranks the
largest Polynesian island outside of Hawaii or New Zealand. It was also the highest with Mt. Sikisili in
the Samoa chain of islands. The island
is home to 43,142 people (2006 Census) who make up 24% of the country's
population. The island has the largest
shield volcano in the South Pacific with recent eruptions in the early
1900s. The central region forms the
largest continuous patch of rainforest in Polynesia. It is dotted with more than 100 volcanic
craters.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As we were
disembarking I saw three school buses with no side widows and painted bright
colors like a Philippine bus would be decorated. They served as the public transportation on
the island. We rode in a more
conventional Toyota HIACS van.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our first stop was
at an ANZ Bank so some of the group could exchange money. From there we rode past what used to be the
market to a new market on the other side of the wharf road. It was a very large building with open sides
and I would estimate at least 100 stalls.
We were given time to tour the stalls.
Many were selling colorful clothes and wraps. Others were selling makeup and household
items. There were a few selling
handicrafts which were made of wood or sea shells. A few of the group bought table mats weaved
from coconut leaves. The more unusual
items included items made of tapa cloth.
Across the parking lot was another market which specialized in
fish. I guess they don’t want the fish
smell to get in the clothes sold in the main market.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We left the market
and headed north along the cost but first we had to stop at the one traffic
light on the island. The coastal drive
was very picturesque with many
churches, houses and meeting houses called fale tele set back from the road
with green lawns.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We stopped to tour
one of the fale tele. Our guide told us
the the fale tele means big house, is the most important house in the
settlement. It was usually round in
shape, and served as a meeting house for chief council meetings, family
gatherings, funerals or chief title investitures. The fale tele is always situated at the front
of all other houses in an extended family complex. The houses behind it serve as living quarters,
with an outdoor cooking area at the rear of the compound. At the front of the fale tele was an open
area, called a malae. The malae, was
usually a well-kept, grassy lawn or sandy area. The malae is an important cultural space where
interactions between visitors and hosts or outdoor formal gatherings take
place.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our guide went to
great lengths to describe the construction of the fale tele.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>The main supporting posts, erected first,
vary in number, size and length depending on the shape and dimensions of the
house. Usually they are between 16 and
25 feet in length and six to 12 inches in diameter, and are buried about four
feet in the ground. The term for these
posts is poutu (standing posts); they are erected in the middle of the house,
forming central pillars.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>Attached to the poutu are cross pieces of
wood of a substantial size called so'a. The so'a extend from the poutu to the
outside circumference of the fale and their ends are fastened to further
supporting pieces called la'au fa'alava.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>The la'au fa'alava, placed horizontally, are
attached at their ends to wide strips of wood continuing from the faulalo to
the auau. These wide strips are called
ivi'ivi. The faulalo is a tubular piece
(or pieces) of wood about four inches in diameter running around the
circumference of the house at the lower extremity of the roof, and is supported
on the poulalo. The auau is one or more
pieces of wood of substantial size resting on the top of the poutu. At a distance of about two feet between each
are circular pieces of wood running around the house and extending from the
faulalo to the top of the building. They are similar to the faulalo.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>The poulalo are spaced about three to four
feet apart and are sunk about two feet in the ground. They average three to four inches in
diameter, and extend about five feet above the floor of the fale. The height of the poulalo above the floor
determines the height of the lower extremity of the roof from the ground.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>On the framework are attached innumerable
aso, thin strips of timber (about half an inch by a quarter by 12 to 25 feet in
length). They extend from the faulalo to the ivi'ivi, and are spaced from one
to two inches apart. Attached to these strips at right angles are further
strips, paeaso, the same size as aso. As
a result, the roof of the fale is divided into an enormous number of small
squares.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Across the road from
the fale tele we toured was the entrance to the Savaiian Hotel where we were
scheduled to have lunch. We stopped
briefly to give them the head count and then returned riding north along the
coast. We passed several fancy two store
mansions built with commanding views of the sea.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our next stop was at
the monument marking the landing of John Williams the pioneer missionary of the
London Missionary Society in the Pacific on August 24, 1830.. He was the first to really convert the Samoans
to Christianity. Across the road from
the monument was a London Missionary Society Congregational Church high on a
hill. John Williams was commissioned by
the London Missionary Society to perform missionary work in the South
Pacific. Although he was very successful
in Samoa he and fellow missionary James Harris were killed and eaten by
cannibals on the island of Erromango during an attempt to bring them the
Gospel.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our next stop was down a gravel road off the highway to the Satioalepai
Wetland with its large concrete sided pond full of turtles. Several of us changed into swimming suits and
swam with the turtles. The water was
very refreshing and was interesting in that it had bands of warm water in
between cooler waters. I swam handing on
to turtles and had fish come right up to me.
I was the only one of the group wearing googles so I saw many fish in
addition to the turtles. The pond was
not very deep and had a rocky base where in places it was only waist deep. One of the men in our group kept picking up
the turtles so his wife could take pictures of the turtle struggling to get
free. Although I grabbed the turtles
under the water I let them drag me along and didn’t attempt to lift the out of
the water or hold them so they struggled to shake me off. It was a fun experience.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Unfortunately both Bob and Lynn slipped and fell on the
slippery group leading to the swimming hole.
One of the ladies dropped her camera in the water but it was retrieved. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We returned to the main road and started back south. We stopped at the Saleaula village lava
fields and walked over the lava to the “Virgins Grave”. It was a spot were a young girl was buried
and when the lava flowed through the area it formed a cave around her burial
site and didn’t flow over her grave. In
the area was also a Catholic church that the lava flowed into and burned the
roof and windows so all that is left is the walls and a floor of lava. The lava was very slippery and a gentleman
from Italy slipped and fell on the walk and scrapping his skin so it bled. Our guide was a Samoan who grew up in Bell
Gardens, Los Angeles. After graduation
from high school she visited her relatives in Samoa and stayed.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Where we parked the van for the walk there was a fale tele with ladies making tapa cloth from
the bark of the mulberry tree. A process
very like what I had seen in Myanmar.
There was also a woman weaving mats from the coconut leafs. She was a delight to watch how quickly she
wove the strips of leaves.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our next stop was back at the Savaiian Hotel for a buffet lunch.
They served BBQ chicken, rice and cold slaw. Our original itinerary had time to swim at
the hotel but the Tour Guide told us the ferry schedule had changed and we had
to leave right after the lunch to catch the ferry back.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When we dropped off the other members of our tour group at
their hotel I realized it was the Aggie Grey Resort which was one of the
fanciest resorts in the country. It had
a large golf course and was situated close to both the ferry terminal and the
International Airport.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It took us forty five minutes to ride back to our
hotel. That drive was in day light and
provided good views of the country side which we hadn’t seen at the ride in
from the airport or the ride to the ferry because I slept most of that trip.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We were very tired and met for dinner in the bar before
19:00 and all ordered their pizza. It
wasn’t bad. After dinner we arranged
with the hotel to get us a taxi to the Domestic Airport and to provide an early
breakfast. They said that we didn’t need
to get to the airport until 90 minutes before our scheduled 07:30 flight
because the terminal would not open before then. So we agreed to have the taxi pick us up at
05:30.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We then returned to our room and retired early since we had
another early morning departure scheduled to fly to American Samoa.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Wednesday, June, 18, 2014:</b> Fly Apia, Samoa to Pago Pago,
American Samoa and fly back<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I woke to my alarm at 04:00 to shower and packed a day pack
for a flight to American Samoa. The
hotel provided us with a hot English breakfast again before our taxi arrived at
05:15. We started out traveling the same
route we had taken the day before to go to the ferry. It didn’t seem right to me so I took out my
smart phone and called up a GPS map of our location. I was right the taxi was headed in the wrong
direction planning on driving us to the <span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Faleolo</span> International Airport forty five minutes away. I asked him to stop and told him we needed to
go to the Domestic Airport. He was
confused since there were Domestic flights from the <span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Faleolo </span>International Airport. We showed him a copy of our ticket which
spelled out the name of the airport as the Fagali’I Airport which Google Maps
showed was only a 9 minute drive from our hotel. The taxi turned around and I started to track
his progress on my smart phone GPS. He
wandered all around back streets instead of taking what looked like would be a
more direct route but eventually he delivered us to the small terminal which
was still closed.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I couldn’t determine if it was the hotel’s fault or the Taxi
companies fault. I know the hotel
receptionist knew were we were going and described that the terminal was small
and would not open until ninety minutes before the flight. She had estimated that it would cost 15
Samoan Tala. I had used the ATM to
withdraw 50 tala the night before to pay for the taxi. The taxi driver tried to charge me 50 Tala
and I was at a disadvantage since I only had a 50 Tala bill. We argued and finally settled on 20 Tala
since he was driving a van. He admitted
a smaller taxi would charge 15 Tala but since he was driving a van he charged
more. He didn’t have change and had to
get it from one of the taxis that were being to arrive.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The check-in counter opened at 06:00 and we were weighted
with our hand carry and got our boarding pass.
We had to fill out a departure card and get our passport stamped but
didn’t have to go through a security check.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The plane flew in at 07:00.
It was a 19-passenger STOL utility de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter. We were assigned seats and I had a row 4
window seat. When I boarded the plane a
very, very large Samoan was sitting in row 4 and I panic thinking I was going
to be squashed against the side of the aircraft until I realized I had the
window across the aisle from him.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We took off on <b>Wednesday</b>
the 18<sup>th</sup> at 07:35 and landed in Pago Pago at 08:10 on <b>Tuesday</b> the 17<sup>th</sup>. We were met on landing by Rory West, a very
interesting guide. He was American from
Oklahoma and moved to the island in 1980 to marry a local girl he met in
college in San Francisco. He had a
wealth of knowledge that he passed on to us.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In 1898 Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States
were locked in dispute over who should have control over the Samoa Islands
which resulted in the Samoa Tripartite Convention. The Convention gave control of the islands
west of 171 degrees west longitude to Germany, (later known as Western Samoa), containing
Upolu and Savaii (the current Samoa) and other adjoining islands. These islands became known as German Samoa. The United States accepted the eastern islands
of Tutuila and Manu'a, (present-day American Samoa). In exchange for United Kingdom ceding claims
in Samoa, Germany transferred their protectorates in the North Solomon Islands
and other territories in West Africa.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
During World War I New Zealand took control over German
Samoa and after the war Germany gave up claims to the islands. The International Date Line should sit on the
180º line of longitude but it bends to include all of Kiribati, Samoa, Tonga
and Tokelau in the Eastern Hemisphere to align with Fiji, New Zealand and
Australia which those islands have close ties.
Thus American Samoa is in the Western Hemisphere is a day earlier than
Samoa although the time is the same.
Very confusing to people traveling between the two and GPS based
location devices in smart cameras, cell phones and watches. The dates on my camera were very confused by
the shift.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Pago Pago was on Tutuila is the largest of the seven islands
that comprise American Samoa. The harbor
considered one of the finest in the South Pacific, was the main reason for
American interest at the turn of the century.
During many years it was administered by the US Navy and during WWII
served as a training base for US Army and Marines.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Physically the island is beautiful and entirely South
Pacific. The entire eastern half is
crowded with rugged jungle-clad mountains that continue westward into a high
broken plateau. It is pitted with lush
green craters of extinct volcanoes.
Fjord like Pago Pago harbor, nearly bisecting the island is a submerged
crater. Tutuila is at the eastern end of
the Samoa archipelago, about midway between the larger islands of Samoa and the
smaller Manu'a group. In 1988 the US
Congress created the National Park of American Samoa, (the most remote of the
U.S. Park Service locations), which includes part of Tutuila, and Ofu and Tau
in the Manu'a group. Its population was
estimated at a little fewer than 200,000 in the last census.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Rory drove us along the coast from the airport to the center
of Pago Pago. The coast had some
stunning small islands which we stopped to photograph and I then noticed they
were the symbol on the license plates.
When we reached town we stopped at the Tauese P.F. Sunia Ocean Center
for presentations and displays of the reef and coral formations throughout the
islands. The Center provided outstanding
displays and presentations. It rained
very hard while we were in the Center but it stopped before we exited.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Leaving the Center Rory drove us over a mountain range to an
inlet. Along the way he described the
damage that occurred on the island by the 2009 earthquake and resulting
tsunami. Thirty four people lost their
life. He showed us areas that were still
damaged and described the problems and corruption that took place in rebuilding
the destroyed and damaged areas.
Throughout our tour we saw new buildings and homes mixed with abandoned
buildings. Many of the islands schools
were on the low level and were hit by the waves.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One of the places we stopped to take pictures was near a new
hotel that had no customers. It was
built with FEMA money under the provision it would be low cost houses but was
manipulated to build the hotel.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We rode past the tuna canneries and saw a large statue of
Charlie Tuna. They are the major
employer on the island. One of the
canneries is now owned by a Korean firm.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The US Army has a Reserve unit on the island and Rory said
there was talked that the US military presence was going to increase for jungle
training.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our next stop was the National Park of American Samoa
Visitor Center. It was up a flight of
stairs and had some great displays of the park’s scenery and exhibits. Bob got a stamp to put in his National Park
Passport.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was then time for lunch and we stopped at the Goat Island
Café where I had a delicious fish and chips lunch. After lunch we visited the museum. It had some nice displays and descriptions of
the islands history. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Driving back to the airport we stopped at a memorial for a
crew that crash in April 1980. In the
1970's American Samoa operated a cable car from Solo Hill above Utulei Beach
Park to the top of Mount Alava to supply a research station on Mount Alava. The cable car was the scene of a horrific
accident on April 17, 1980 when seven American military servicemen and one
civilian were killed during an airshow for the 80th anniversary of American
Samoa as a US territory. Their aircraft
involved in the airshow clipped the cable for the tram and crashed into the Rainmaker
Hotel. Two tourists staying in the hotel
also died in the crash on Pago Pago Harbor.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our next stop was at Tia Seu Lupe (pigeon catching
mound). A plaque describes the mounds as
follows:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>Tia
(mounds) were once scattered across the Tafuna plain and today are found on
many ridge tops throughout Samoa. The
often have a star like shape with rays or ‘arms’ projecting from a central
mound area. Many people believe that
star mounds were used for the chiefly sport of pigeon catching as recently as
100 to 250 years ago.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We continued on to the airport. There we were told we were supposed to be on
the 15:00 back to Samoa and the staff at Samoa had neglected to inform us when
we checked in. There was room on the
next flight and we departed at 16:40 and landed back in Samoa on the 18<sup>th</sup>
at 17:10.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When we exited the terminal after clearing Immigration and
Customs (same guy doing both jobs) I was greeted by a taxi coordinator. I told him we were a party of four and he
assigned a van driver to take us back to the hotel. He took a more direct route and we were at
the hotel in less than 15 minutes. I
paid him 20 Tala.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We had dinner at 19:00 and retired early to catch up on our
sleep.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Thursday, June, 19, 2014:</b> Tour Apia, Samoa and then fly to
Auckland, New Zealand<b><o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We slept a little later since our tour was not scheduled
until 09:30. After sleeping eight hours
I got up and took a shower and then Bob got up.
We went to breakfast at 07:30. It
was a buffet but I had pretty much the same breakfast as every morning on the
trip: Eggs, bacon, beans, toast, fruit, juice and tea.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As we were leaving the dining room Lynn and Mary
arrived. Bob and I returned to our room,
packed and wrote in our journals. Lynn
and Mary moved their luggage to our room.
Hotel check out was 10:00 but we paid extra to extend the room to 18:00
so the four of us could share the room and the cost after our tour.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At 09:15 we went to the lobby and Lynn and Mary checked
out. When 09:30 passed and the tour bus
had not arrived I checked the voucher and discovered it was for a 10:30 pick
up. We returned to the room and I
continued writing. Lynn and Mary joined
us in our room. About 10:10 Bob left to
wait in the lobby and soon returned to inform us the bus had arrived. I shut down the laptop and proceeded to the
lobby.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The tour started along the same route we had ridden to the
ferry and the airport. This time the
driver/guide named Tom told us a little about the buildings we were passing
including the Parliament House. One of
the most impressive buildings was the new Catholic Cathedral which was just
completed the previous month. It was a
massive white with blue trim structure and was built is 18 months to replace
the cathedral that had been damaged in the 2009 tsunami.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We turned off the highway and rode up the mountain past the
area of Embassies, and wealthy people’s homes to Vailima, the Robert Louis
Stevenson Museum. There we turned up a
long driveway lined with flowering trees and bushes to large area of grass with
an imposing two story poached mansion at the back of the green lawn area. The bus stopped at the front stairs. The landscaping had been very cleaver with
small square stones embedded in the lawn so the vehicle tire marks don’t kill
the grass and until you look very close there is no trace of vehicles driving
across the lawn. It was a beautiful
setting.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At the top of the stairs was a gift shop where we could
purchase tickets to take a guided tour of the house. Bob and I bought the tour and had to remove
our shoes. Lynn and Mary decided to skip
the tour.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We had an enthusiastic guide. She started out describing a wood panel room
with a fire place that was designed as the parlor. The museum had attempted to furnish the room
as it looked in photographs but only the fireplace was original although never
used because of the warm climate it was built to remind the family of their
Scotland and Northern California background.
The room had photographs taken on Stevenson’s birthday with his family
and servants gathered on the front steps of the house. Robert Louis Stevenson never had any children
but his wife had a son and daughter from a previous marriage and a grandson
living in Samoa. The step son had his
own cottage in back of the main house.
The daughter, son and Robert Louis Stevenson’s mother lived in the
house. The daughter’s husband left Samoa
after a short period and divorced the step daughter.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We then moved to the dining room with more pictures on the
walls documenting his life, portraits of Robert Louis Stevenson, and a piano
his mother played. The stairs to the
second floor was at the end of the room and at the head of the stairs was
Robert Louis Stevenson’s sick room with a bed and cabinet of medicines. Our guide sang a song with the words from
Robert Louis Stevenson’s poem about death.
She had a beautiful voice but got very emotional singing and taking about
his sickness and his death. Next to his room were rooms for his wife, grandson,
step-daughter and a suite for his mother.
She had a sitting room with a view of the harbor. Trees have grown up to block the view.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
His study with a bed, his desk, and library were next to his
wife’s room. In the study were more
pictures documenting his life a museum collection of his books printed in
various foreign language. One of the
pictures I liked was Robert Louis Stevenson sitting on a park bench with Mark
Twain in Washington Square, New York City.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The tour took almost an hour so we left as soon as it was
over although we could have tour the house on our own once we had taken the
official tour. Not very many locals take
the tour. After Robert Louis Stevenson
died his wife sold the home to a German merchant who added a wing on the right
side to balance the look of the building.
When the Germans ruled the island the German High Commissioner lived in
the house. Later other High
Commissioners and leaders lived in the house.
One leader forbade anyone to set foot on the grounds without permission
or they would be fined a $1,000. So even
today locals are not sure they can visit the museum.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The house was in disrepair when a wealthy Mormon
ex-missionary who was a big Robert Louis Stevenson fan decided to fund the
museum. Three Mormon Missionaries form
the museum’s oversight. It was in
excellent condition when we were there and there was even a crew repainting
parts of the balcony.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
From the museum we rode up a hill to the Shrine of the Three
Hearts Church where we stopped to see the panoramic view of the town below and
toured the interior of the church which had beautiful stained glass
windows. From that church and view point
we rode even further up the hill to stop at Moamoa Theological College. There we toured their St. Anthony Church
which had even more beautiful stained glass windows than the Three Hearts
Church. The outside of the windows were
protected from Cyclone weather by heavy screens. The church ceiling had an interesting blue
and white design.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our next stop was to be at the University of the South
Pacific Agricultural Campus where cross breeding of varieties of crops are
experimented with. When we arrived on
the Campus we encountered a ‘No Entrance Exams In Progress’ sign and had to
turn around.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We returned to the township passing the large Mormon Temple
and stopped for pictures at the Parliament House, Independence Monument, and
Lands & Titles Court, to finish our tour.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Back at the hotel we ate lunch and returned to our
room. Bob and I wrote in our journals
while Lynn and Mary watched TV and snoozed.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We had to check out at 18:00. Just as I had done in Kiribati I had to
analyze each line item in the bill to determine a fair split with Bob. My calculations balanced and everyone was
happy. We had to sit in the open sided
reception area to wait for our transfer to the airport which was scheduled for
19:10. The bus arrived early and we were
on our way. The driver was also a tour
guide and he asked us if Tom had told us much about village life on our tour
earlier in the day. When we told him Tom
hadn’t told us very much about village life, he proceeded to describe the
village structure in greater detail than Tom had told us during the morning
tour. It killed the time during the
forty five minute drive to the airport.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He told us there were three structures in each village: <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
</div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">The chiefs’ council which is comprised of the
village chief and a chief from each family in the village.</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">They met to discuss and decide issues
affecting the village.</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">They can hand out
punishment including banishing a resident from the village for life.</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">When that happens the offender’s family has
to leave with him.</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">The Police are only
called in when it is a capital crime and the chiefs can still handout rulings
in addition or instead of the court system.</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><br /></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">The women’s council which are usually the
chief’s wives.</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">They establish a lot of
the organization in the village.</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Our
driver told us he could tell by visiting a village if the woman got along or
back stabbed each other by just the look of the village.</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><br /></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">The workers.</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">
</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">He had a name for it but I didn’t understand what he said.</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">He included himself in that group.</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">He said they did all the heavy lifting, the
farming and gathering of food for their families.</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">What surprised me is they also do the cooking
(not the women) and serve themselves last.</span></li>
</ul>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
When we reached the airport I helped the driver unload the
bags through a window in the back of the bus.
I had the group’s revised ticket numbers in an email from Cathy on my
cell phone so we all checked in together.
When we got our boarding pass Mary handed out tags for our
carry-ons. I asked for two and put one
on my laptop carry on and then looked around to put one on my day pack. It wasn’t there and I realized that I had
left it on the bus. I panicked and went
around the terminal to find a representative from the tour company. As I was looking in the arrival end of the
terminal Bob called out that Mary had found a representative. Across from the terminal there was a row of
buses from the company and one of the drivers was the one that had picked us up
when we had flown in on the 17<sup>th</sup>. I walked over and he called the driver but got
no answer. He told me that he was at
Aggie Grey’s Resort near the airport waiting to transport the crew to the
airport. After a few minutes they
connected and the driver reported he had found my bag. They then had me get in a van and I was
driven out to the resort and retrieved my bag and returned to the airport. It was a close call!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our aircraft was a little late arriving so we were late
boarding. I was in row 19 and they had
rows 1 to 15 board using the front stairs and the rest the back stairs. I was the first one to board the rear
stairs. I settled in after a woman sat
in the window seat. I wanted to take my
evening pills and needed water so I was waiting for the aisle to clear when a
flight attendant came down the aisle with large bottles of water and handed
some to a couple of flight attendants that were dead heading on the
flight. As she approached me I asked her
if I could have a bottle and she said “sure Happy Birthday” and gave me
one. I took my pills and put on my sun
glasses and tried to sleep.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We took off at 23:00 and when we reached altitude a flight
attendant came down the aisle with a cart full of iPads. Virgin Australia B-737-800 aircraft are
configured with Wi-Fi and transmit the inflight entertainment via Wi-Fi. I had thought of using my smart phone to
watch a movie but when I saw the list I didn’t see a movie I really wanted to
see so I shut my smart phone off. When
the flight attendant got to my seat she handed me an iPad I told her I didn’t
need it and she said it was free for me and put it on my tray. I turned in on and decided to watch a TV
comedy before the service. When they
wheeled the service cart down the aisle they handed me a sandwich but didn’t
give one to the others in the group. I
think they had me mixed up with one of their Frequent Flyers. It was a ham and cheese wrap. They then wanted to give me a drink but I
already had the large bottle of water and stuck with that. I watched another TV show as I ate and then when
they picked up the trash I shut down the iPad and went to sleep.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
I had achieved my goal of visiting every UN country but
there was a lot more places in the world to visit and experience so I continued
on to visit two islands rarely visited b Americans: Niue and Wallis &
Futuna.<o:p></o:p></div>
Edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03034021752003929779noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2230692068076603436.post-89787297322655681002014-07-10T21:14:00.000-07:002014-07-10T21:14:01.168-07:00Kiribati Tour Journal – June 2014<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Overview:</b> <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My tour of Kiribati was the first of two Pacific Island
Nations I scheduled with Advantage Travel & Tours, Poway, California to
complete my visits to all the countries in the UN. The trip was a set tour by Advantage Travel;
they called South Pacific Islands Explorer.
I was traveling with Lynn Bishop, Mary Warren and Bob Ihsen whom I have
taken many trips with in the past. In
January 2014 Bob and I roomed together on my Sub Anarchic Expedition, Cocos
(Keeling) Island, Christmas Island and Vanuatu trip. I just traveled with Lynn and Mary in April
2014 on my Sri Lanka, Maldives Islands, India and Bangladesh trip.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Kiribati was the 192 of 193 UN member countries for me to
visit.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Monday, June, 09, 2014: </b>Fly LAX to Honolulu, Hawaii<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My flight to Honolulu was scheduled for 13:00 so I was able
to get a normal night’s sleep and eat breakfast with Judy. My car service arrived a few minutes before
10:00. It was the first time I had
ridden with the driver. He described
himself as an Armenian Persian who left Tehran, Iran when the Shah left and
grew up in the US. As we approached the
connection between the 101 to the 405 the traffic stopped so he turned off at
Haskell Avenue and drove Sepulveda Boulevard to Sunset Boulevard before he
entered the 405. It was an interesting
trip down memory lane since I used to drive that route when I worked in Culver
City in the early 1990’s and had rarely driven the route since then. It took us forty five minutes to reach the
airport.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Check in and Security processing was a breeze. The scheduled gate was next to the United
Lounge and I waited in the lounge until noon.
They boarded the plane at 12:15 and I settled in my seat with a woman
and her daughter sitting next to me.
They lived on the big island and were returning from a visit to their
former home in Boston. The plane was a
former Continental B-757-300 with Direct TV which meant that I would have to
pay $7.99 to watch TV, a movie or even listen to music. I can’t tell you how much I dislike that
configuration.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As the departure time of 13:00 approached the Second Officer
announced that the departure would be delayed because the Captain was flying in
to LAX and his plane was delayed. I sat
there watching CNN with no sound, just reading the captions streaming by on the
bottom of the screen. When the pilot had
still not arrived at 13:30 a Flight Attendant announced that the Direct TV fee
would be waived for the flight. We still
had to swipe a credit card to activate the service but they would cancel the
charges when we landed in Hawaii.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I tried to activate my screen to no avail I used every
credit card in my wallet and one a flight attendant had. The unit would not read a card so I switched
to reading. I had not caught up on
reading my <u>Time</u> magazines and <u>Sports Illustrated</u> from my April
trip and had brought them along.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Captain finally arrived at 14:00 and announced that in
addition to his late connecting flight the flight plan for our flight had not
been filed correctly and he had to spend time getting that straightened
out. I had just read that morning an
article in the Wall Street Journal about how United was still having problems
integrating the old United and Continental systems and crews. I could see why they were ranked near the
bottom in customer satisfaction.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After we finally took off at 14:30 they served lunch which
was not free. The flight attendant that
had tried to get my TV to work gave me a free lunch and beer.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One of the features on the United Hawaii flights was the
“Halfway to Hawaii Game”. Passengers are
asked to determine the exact time the flight would reach the geographical
midpoint using flight plan information provided by the flight crew. I decided to play the game. After takeoff the Second Officer announced
that the distance in the flight plan was 2,299nm with airspeed of 468kts and a
headwind of 29kts. We had taken off at
14:31 and they wanted the answer in Hawaii local time. I estimated the halfway time to be 14:07 and
the actual time ended up as 14:04:35. I
was announced as the winner of the Lonely Planet guide to Hawaii. It was fun to think I still remember how to
do basic dead reckoning navigation. As a
former winner of Navigation Competitions in the USAF I would have been
embarrassed if I hadn’t won.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We landed exactly an hour late which played havoc with my
seat mates and others connecting to flights to the other islands. United dropped the ball on our arrival by not
announcing our luggage area. I wandered
around the terminal with a group from our flight before we found someone to
direct us to the United baggage claim area.
Once I found the correct carousel my bag was one of the first off and I
proceeded to call my hotel and get the instructions on where to meet their
shuttle bus.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I checked into the Airport Honolulu Hotel, unpacked and
decided to visit the Navy Exchange about a mile away. The taxi cost me $10 for the short
distance. The items I was hoping to
purchase were not available at the Navy Exchange and it was too late in the day
to take a taxi to the USAF exchange, so I walked over to a strip mall near the
exchange and visited the Verizon store to get help in the Global features of my
new Samsung Galaxy 5 smart phone. After
they found that Kiribati and most of the other locations I was going to visit
on the trip would not have cell coverage I elected to not purchase the Global
Data Plan.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When I left the Verizon store I stopped in the Subway next
door, ate a tuna sandwich and decided to walk back to the hotel. I watched the Interview of Hillary Clinton by
Diane Sawyer, and wrote in my journal and waited for my roommate on this trip,
Bob Ihsen, to arrive. I went to bed at
22:00 and was asleep when Bob finally arrived a little before mid-night. His flight, also on United, was delayed four
hours because of maintenance problems.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Tuesday, June, 10, 2014:</b> Fly Honolulu, Hawaii to Christmas
Island, Kiribati<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I awoke from a sound sleep to my alarm at 06:00. I showered and let Bob sleep a little
longer. We went to breakfast at
07:00. We ate with Lynn and Mary and
returned to the room at 08:00 to finish packing. At 08:30 we took the shuttle bus to the
airport. We were a little early because
Fiji Airways did not start checking in passengers until 09:00. Due to last minute schedule changes by Fiji
Airways I had lost my assigned seats but was able to get an exit row aisle seat
all the way to Nadi. Originally I was
scheduled to change seats at Christmas Island so I felt pretty good about the
new assignment. My bag weighted over the
50lb. limit so I removed my snorkeling gear which was in a carry-on bag anyway
and hit the limit.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At the Security check point I passed through a full body
scanner but I had neglected to remove a large container of sunscreen lotion
from my snorkeling gear and it was confiscated by the TSA Agent. The assigned gate for my flight was a very
long walk from the Security check point and as I took the walk I was surprised
that none of the airport shops sold suntan lotion. When I reached the gate I called Judy and
Cathy. Cathy was having problems with
the computer that access the airline network and gave me instructions on what
we should do if she can’t complete the re-issue of all our tickets.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We boarded the aircraft on time and departed for Christmas
Island, Kiribati. My exit row seat
didn’t turn out as good as I expected. I
had a very heavy man sitting next to me wearing a tank top and had a little
underarm order at my nose level. I could
not store my day pack under the seat in front of me and I asked the flight
attendant if I could move to a row where I could stow the day pack with all my
reading material in it under a seat. She
stowed the day pack under the seat in a vacant row several rows in front of my
seat and after takeoff I moved to that row for the duration of the flight to
Christmas Island.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The movie they showed was the Lego movie so I skipped it and
read my Time magazines. They served a
meal which had no meat in it and free drinks during the three hour flight.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Wednesday, June, 11, 2014:</b> Fly Christmas Island, Kiribati to
Nadi, Fiji<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was the same time but Wednesday when we landed at
Christmas Island. I couldn’t find a way
to set my watch so I kept it on Honolulu time.
My camera was even more confused.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After we landed, the passengers flying on to Nadi were told
to stay on the aircraft but Bob Ihsen talked the flight crew into letting the
four of us get off and take pictures of the terminal. It marked country number 192 for me of the
193 UN countries.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When we departed Christmas Island I had to return to my exit
row seat but this time the heavy set man had switched places with his wife and
was sitting by the window so he could take pictures of the island on climb
out. They were a couple from Sidney that
had visited friends in Honolulu and we had a pleasant conversation about
travel, especially around Australia.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The movie was not worth watching and I was able to read some
more magazines. It was almost a five
hour flight and it was full of workers from Korea and Ecuador that work on the
fishing boats in Christmas Island.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When we landed in Nadi we encountered a very long line at
Immigration. A wide body flight must
have arrived just before our flight. Eventually
we got though at the same time our bags were coming on the carousel. My bag arrived just as I wheeled a trolley up
to the belt. I exited Customs and asked
where to get the hotel shuttle bus and then waited for the others and led them
to the pickup point. The hotel was a
short drive away, actually just across the road from the airport entrance. Bob and I were assigned a two room
suite. I took the room that had an
outlet where I thought I could use an extension cord to plug in my power strip
for my CPAP machine and cell phone.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After dumping our bags we went down to the restaurant and
ate a salad. Lynn and Mary skipped the
meal. I discovered that Wi-Fi was not
free and I purchased an hour. It was too
late to call Judy so I planned on using the hour in the morning to call her and
receive email.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When we returned to the room I attempted to hook up my CPAP
machine. My adapter for the Australian
style electrical outlet kept falling out of the outlet. I tried taping it up but it eventually would
drop down enough to lose the connection.
I was getting frustrated so I went down to the front desk to see if they
had an adaptor. The desk clerk couldn’t
find one but gave me an extension cord.
I returned to my room only to find that the end of the extension cord
was recessed so I couldn’t plug my adapter in.
I returned to the desk and gave them back the extension cord and they
told me they has found an adapter and gave me that. Using an adapter I still couldn’t maintain a
connection and determined it was a faulty outlet. I returned to the front desk and got the
extension cord back and with the extension cord I carry and their adapter
plugged in to the coffee machine outlet in Bob’s room.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I finally retired about 23:00.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Thursday, June, 12, 2014:</b> Fly Nadi, Fiji to Tarawa,
Kiribati<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I had set my alarm for 04:00 with intention of using my one
hour of internet time before we had to go to the airport at 06:00. I woke at 03:55 and turned off the alarm so
as not to wake Bob. I showered and
packed and connected to the Wi-Fi at 04:30 only to find the band width would
not support Vonage calls.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I wasted so much time trying to connect on Vonage that I
didn’t have enough time when I switched to my laptop to send a message. I wrote one to Judy and received a message on
the screen that my connection had timed out.
A porter came to take our bags down to the reception and I finished up
on my laptop and went down. The gang had
already boarded the van before 06:00 so I quickly put my carry on in the back
when Lynn discovered he had left a bag in his room. When he went back to get his bag the front
desk came out to inform me I hadn’t paid for my internet service. We resolved both issues and were soon on our
way to the airport.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When I checked it I asked to see a manager to obtain a
voucher for our Sunday night stay in Tarawa due to their moving our Sunday
flight to Monday. He told me to obtain
the voucher from the Tarawa Station Agent.
We still had a voucher for breakfast at the hotel so as soon as we
checked in we returned to the curb to find the hotel shuttle bus arriving with
another load of passengers. We jumped in
and returned to the hotel for breakfast and then caught the 07:00 shuttle back
to the airport.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At Security they objected to my having a can of insect
repellant outside a sealed bag. I had a
bag of toilet paper and wipes in a plastic bag in my day bag and stuffed it in
there to make them happy. The silly
rules imposed on us since 911 really annoy me.
That reminded me to purchase some sun screen. I couldn’t believe that in neither the
Honolulu nor Nadi Airport no shop sold sunscreen. After visiting all the stops I wandered to
the gate just as they decided to call the flight so I was the first one on
board and discovered it was the same aircraft we had flown on the day before.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We didn’t depart on time because flights to Tarawa required
a certified mechanic on board and the one assigned to our flight was late
getting to the aircraft. A fact I found
unbelievable. It was not like he had to
fly in from another location since Nadi was the headquarters for the
airline. Anyway we took off thirty
minutes late. I was asleep when we took
off and didn’t wake until they served a meal an hour after takeoff. After the meal I attempted to read but fell
asleep again. My naps made the three
hour flight appear short.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We arrived in Tarawa at 11:30 and found only two Immigration
Officers processing our flight. It took
a while to have my passport stamped but then I had a very long wait for my bag
to arrive. The others in the group were
waiting in a non-air conditioned bus while I waited for my bag to arrive on the
last cart from the aircraft. They were
six customs agents and they were being very thorough checking bags for
foodstuffs. I had indicated I had some
snack bars in my bag but they passed me without opening the bag.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The road to the hotel was full of pot holes and caused us to
drive slow and bounce around. It took
about thirty minutes to reach the Otintaai Hotel. It was not what I expected. The entrance road had rather nice two story
structures facing the water but the reception office was in a small building
across the road from the rooms. I
discovered later that the building between the buildings with the rooms was
being remodeled and that was where the reception used to be. Behind the old reception area was the
restaurant.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our assigned room had a double and single bed. An outlet was next to the head of the single
bed so I took that and let Bob have the double bed. There was one desk and a small table. I had the maid bring us another small table
that I set between the two beds to hold my CPAP machine. After we arranged the room and did some
unpacking Bob and I went to lunch. We
ordered fish and chips and while waiting I retrieved my Lonely Planet guide and
we read about the island.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>The
description of our hotel recommended the fish and chips. They were good! It also mentioned that we should not swim in
the area because of sewage runoff.
Diving and snorkeling was reserved for an area you have to take a boat to
get too. Another caution was not to
drink the water.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>The
islands are mostly 33 scattered coral atolls with a population of 104,488. The history of Kiribati (pronounced
Ki-ri-bas) dates back to the string of islands known as the Gilbert Islands and
became a British protectorate in 1892 with Tarawa as the capital. In 1900 high grade phosphate was discovered
on Banada then named Ocean Island and it was added to the protectorate and made
the administrative capital in 1908. The
phosphate mining provided a great source of revenue to the protectorate. In 1915 they were granted colony status. And
in 1919 the Christmas Islands and the rest of the Line Islands were joined to
the colony. The Phoenix Islands were
added in1937.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>In
December 1941 the Japanese bombed Banada and Tarawa, captured Butaritari, Makin
and Tarawa, the three most northern islands.
The Japanese built an airfield on Betio, Tarawa and a seaplane base on
Butaritari. They held a strategic
position to attack US supply ships sailing from Hawaii to Australia, the
Solomon and Vanuatu Islands.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>In
November 1943 the US Marines attacked the airfield on Betio, Tarawa using
amphibious tractors (Amtracs) to storm the beach in a bloody battle that cost
the lives of over 1,000 marines (about one fifth of the landing force) but
resulted in a US victory.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>After
the war the administrative capital was moved back to Tarawa and the Gilbert
Islands were granted self-rule by the UK in 1971 and complete independence in
1979 under the new name of Kiribati. The
US relinquished all claims to the sparsely inhabited Phoenix and Line Island
groups in a 1979 treaty of friendship with Kiribati.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>Commercially
viable phosphate deposits were exhausted at the time of independence from the
UK in 1979. Copra and fish now represent
the bulk of production and exports. The
economy has fluctuated widely in recent years. Economic development is
constrained by a shortage of skilled workers, weak infrastructure, and
remoteness from international markets.
Tourism provides more than one-fifth of GDP. Private sector initiatives and a financial
sector are in the early stages of development.
Foreign financial aid from the EU, UK, US, Japan, Australia, New Zealand,
Canada, UN agencies, and Taiwan accounts for 20-25% of GDP. Remittances from seamen on merchant ships
abroad account for more than $5 million each year. Kiribati receives around $15 million annually
for the government budget from an Australian trust fund.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After lunch we tried to contact Molly Brown, our local guide
recommended in the Lonely Planet, to let her know we had arrived and schedule a
time for our tour the next day. The
number we were given had been disconnected.
It was the same number that was in the Lonely Planet guide. Fortunately the reception clerk knew the guide’s
daughter and told us she would contact her for a correct number. We then had the clerk contact Fiji Airways to
get the Sunday night voucher. They told
her we would have to pay for the room and get reimbursed when we returned to
Nadi. I found that unacceptable since we
were only in Nadi for two hours and in transit to Suva which meant changing
terminals from International to Domestic and would not have time to find
someone at Fiji Airways to pay us. I
tried to call Cathy and could get through to her but she couldn’t hear me. I also tried to call Judy and couldn’t get a
good connection. It was going to be a
frustrating four days with spotty Wi-Fi connection.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The receptionist told me the Fiji Airways office was just a
short walk from the hotel so I decided to talk to the manager face to face and
get him to resolve the payment with corporate.
The clerk told me the Fiji Airways office was across from the gas
station.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I took off walking and didn’t see a Fiji Airways sign or a
gas station for quite a distance. A car
stopped and asked if I needed a ride.
When I told him where I was headed he told me I had passed it so I
reversed direction and again didn’t see any sign. As I got close to the hotel entrance I
stopped to ask a man if he could direct me to Fiji Airways and he pointed to
across from where we were standing to a Travel Agency and Café. There was a large pile of sand and a
collapsed concrete structure behind it that was once a gas station. He said the Fiji Airways office was in the
new building next door behind a chain link fence. I walked into a nice office and Café and
asked for the Fiji Manager. They had me
sit down and after a while a woman came up and told me they didn’t work for
Fiji Airways, they were just their local agent.
They would try to contact the Station Agent and get back to me. I thanked them and as I left I noticed they
advertised Wi-Fi for $5 per thirty minutes.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When I returned to the hotel the receptionist told me she
had gotten in contact with our local guide.
We and the Lonely Planet had an outdated number. She planned on meeting us at 17:00 to go over
the next two day’s schedule. I reported
that to Lynn and Bob and then went to the bar to purchase a bottle of
water. I also had a refreshing cold
beer. No one else was around. The hotel looks as though it was pretty nice
but had fallen into hard times. Many of
the tiles on the floor of the bar which was a very large area were missing like
the area was once under water. In back
of the building are rooms were in there was a row of picnic tables with a shade
structure. They were all tipped on their
side. A high chain link fence ran along
the edge to the water.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Back in my room the maid knocked on our door to inform us
that our local guide had delayed her visit to 19:00. I wrote some in my journal and attempted to
connect to the Wi-Fi with spotty success.
At 18:00 I went to the reception area to try to connect to the internet
with a stronger signal. I was able to
receive some emails and apparently Cathy had heard some of my conversation when
I had connected on Vonage and heard we were having trouble reaching the local
guide so she contacted the guide by phone and email.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I was still trying to process email and attempting to
contact Judy on Vonage when Bob arrived a few minutes before 19:00. Shortly after he arrived the receptionist
told us we had a phone call from Molly.
She was suffering from the ‘trots’ she speculated that was caused by dust
kicked up by road construction in her area.
She apologized and told him she would not be able to meet with us until
the morning.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We informed Lynn and Mary and went to dinner. I had fried fish and a baked potato. After dinner I returned to the room and
retired early.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Friday, June, 13, 2014:</b> Tour Tarawa, Kiribati<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I awoke a few minutes before 06:00 when my alarm was set to
ring so I turned it off and took a cold shower.
The Wi-Fi was spotty but I was able to get some emails and received a
disturbing email that my son-in-law Robert had been attacked while jogging in a
park along the river in Sacramento and had received a gash in his right arm
that was so severe he lost the ability to move his fingers. I jumped up from the breakfast table, we had
ordered our food but it hadn’t been served, and ran over to the Reception
Office to see if I could connect on a call.
I was able to contact with my daughter Wendy but she didn’t have much
more to report other than he was being operated on in the hospital.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It took forty minutes to serve our breakfast so I was back
at the table before the food arrived. I
had a fried egg, bacon, sausage, three pieces of toast and a slice of
papaya. I made a sandwich out of two
pieces of toast, the egg and the bacon.
It was tasty.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Molly arrived just after eight. She handed us a schedule for the next two days. We gathered our raincoats, hats, sunglasses
and cameras and departed at 08:30 in her Toyota Harrier station wagon. Leaving the hotel gate we turned right to
head west to the village of Betio at the very end of a chain of small islands
connected by roads and causeways. The
islands were not very wide (north to south) and we could often see both the
lagoon to the north and the ocean to the south at the same time. The road was terrible. Molly explained that Wednesday night a rare
violent thunder storm hit the islands and left large puddles of water and
downed trees. The puddles further
enlarged the pot holes in the road. On
the lagoon side the sand came right up to the roadway in many places. It was very picturesque with the blue lagoon,
palm trees and white sand. But the
thatched covered huts sometimes added to the picture but the bumpy road and
many rusty wrecked vehicles pulled me back to reality.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We passed the Parliament Building which was scheduled on the
next day and after a forty minute drive stopped at the Catholic OLSH Convent in
Bairiki, the last island before Betio.
The side road to the convent had several trees and broken limbs
down. At the convent Molly scheduled a
time for us to meet Sister Margaret Sullivan keeper of the World War II archives
and an authority on the history of the Gilbert Islands and the USMC ‘Operation
Galvanic’ that rid the islands of the Japanese.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After Molly scheduled our visit we stopped at the ANZ Bank
in Bairiki to change money. I did the
exchange for the group and it was an interesting process. Only one teller in the bank handled Foreign
Exchange and she also processed withdrawals.
There were four rows of three chairs in front of her window and I was
instructed to sit in the first unoccupied chair. Every time someone was waited on we got up
and moved to the next chair. Eventually
I got the money and we continued on to Betio.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We had to pay a toll to cross the causeway into Betio. On the south side of the causeway we saw
several concert Japanese bunkers and large guns. Over two hours after leaving the hotel we
reached the Betio War Memorial erected by the Australians on the 60<sup>th</sup>
anniversary of the Japanese killing a group of Coast Watchers and local
foreigners in October 1942. The people
were killed in retaliation to the US bombing the island.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We walked around the area which was designated Black beach
in ‘Operation Galvanic’. There were
still a lot of rusty war relics, metal pillboxes, square concert bunkers and
ammunition storage bunkers with dome tops, and guns pointing out to sea. The Japanese thought that any invasion would
come from the ocean on the south because it would be difficult for invasion
ships to pass through the narrow opening to the lagoon on the north side. There were several 8inch guns along the beach
that ironically were manufactured by the British and moved by the Japanese from
Singapore to defend Tarawa. We spent
about twenty minutes walking the area.
Molly told me the paved road we had driven on to the Memorial was once
one of the Japanese airfield runways.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We continued riding west to Green Beach which was the west
facing end of the island and the location of several 8 inch guns. Next we stopped at Red Beach 1 facing the
lagoon. The Red Beaches was where the
main invasion took place. The USMC used
the Amtracs to drive over the outer coral reef and across the shallow lagoon to
the beach. There we walked across the
flat and coral sand through puddles to the remains of Amtracs and tanks. In one of the remains we discovered a
CD. I didn’t realize the Marines had CR
players in their invasion vehicles. The
label had worn off so I couldn’t tell if it was Glen Miller or Bing
Crosby.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We returned to the station wagon,
stopping to wash our feet in a village.
Molly then took us on a tour of another village which had built their
houses on top of bunkers. We saw how the
villagers washed their clothes and took pictures of young girls giggling in a
hammock and little naked boys and girls running around the village. The area behind the village was Red Beach 2
where there was a rusty landing craft and a Sherman Tank buried in the sand up
to the turret. Molly had taken one of
the decedents of the men that had escaped the tank on his visit to Tarawa
several years ago. He told her that most
of the crew lost their lives on Iwo Jima.
The tide was low and we could see the hulls of large ships rusting on
their side out in the lagoon. It was a
depressing sight and hard to believe that it had been cleaned up in 70 years.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We walked back to the station wagon through a settlement of
huts. It was lunch time and Molly drove
us to a Chinese Restaurant. We walked in
and saw no tables and a young man came running from the back to tell us they
were closed for a party. Molly then
drove us to Aboy’s Kitchen, another Chinese restaurant where I had a delicious
lunch of sweet and sour pork, the best I had tasted in a long time.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After lunch we stopped at the Japanese War memorial which
had a fence around it and Molly told us the care taker had lost the key so we
couldn’t get close. Next to it was the
Kiribati Customs Service building.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our next stop was the American War Memorial on the grounds
of the Sports Complex. It was not as
impressive as the one on Guadalcanal. On
one side was a plaque to the people of Kiribati below a larger plaque that
read:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
“Follow Me”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
2<sup>nd</sup>
Marine Division<o:p></o:p></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
United States
Marine Corps.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
BATTLE of TARAWA<o:p></o:p></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
November 20, 1943<o:p></o:p></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
To our fellow
Marines who gave their all!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
The world is free
because of you!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
GOD REST YOUR
SOULS<o:p></o:p></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
1,113 KILLED 2,290 WOUNDED<o:p></o:p></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
The Central
Pacific Spearhead<o:p></o:p></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
To world victory
in World War II<o:p></o:p></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
‘Semper Fidelis’<o:p></o:p></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On the side was a red plaque from the Second Marine Division
Association on the 65<sup>th</sup> Anniversary of Operation Galvanic, dated
November 2008. On the back side was the
United States Navy memorial plaque that listed 30 Killed and 59 wounded. Below that was a brass plate sealed on Nov.
20, 1987, Camp Lejeune, NC to be opened Nov. 20, 2143. With inscription: From our world to yours:
Freedom above all.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We then rode over to the local police station to see next to
it the Japanese Armory bunker. Across a
courtyard from the bunker was the jail and we observed two policeman talking to
one of the prisoners. Back in the
vehicle we rode to the Japanese Command Bunker.
It was a multistory square concrete building with many holes blown in
its side which showed had thick and reinforced with steel it was. Over 300 bodies were found in the building
after it was captured by the Marines. In
one of the large holes a young man was sitting and laughing. Molly suspected he was high from sniffing
benzene he had in a bag he kept sniffing.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We rode back to the beach and stopped at an 8 inch gun which
was in good condition. Four boys were
climbing and playing on the gun. Down
the beach from the gun were the rusty remains of the temporary bridge used to
ferry vehicles and materials ashore across the beach. Our next stop was behind a warehouse where
Molly showed us the remains of an aircraft cockpit and propeller. The instrument panel was there and the hose
to the oxygen mask.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Molly then took us to a friend’s house to view a DVD video
on the battle. Unfortunately the DVD was
so scratched it wouldn’t play. It was
time anyway for our meeting with Sister Margret Sullivan.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sister Margret was in her eighties and had been assigned to
Tarawa since the 1950s. She had an
interest in history and started to study and record initially the Catholic
Church’s activities in the Gilbert Islands and then expanded her studies to the
people of the islands and the country of Kiribati. Since WWII had such a big impact on the
history of the islands and the people she became the world authority on the
Japanese occupation and the US invasion.
Many veterans and military history buffs have visited her and provided
her with books and papers on the war.
She has edited several documents for accuracy herself. She gave us a briefing that included a Power
Point presentation and videos on the war and her activities. It was by far the highlight of the tour and
may go down in my mind as the highlight of the trip. She was a fascinating individual and a credit
to the Church.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was after 17:00 when we left her fascinating
meeting. It was a long, eventful day and
we had dinner at 19:00 and retired at 22:00.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Saturday, June, 14, 2014:</b> Tour Kiribati<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was party night
at the hotel. I was awakened several
times and especially around 05:00 when someone was laughing continuously and a
motor was being gunned. I finally got up
about 05:50 and showered. There was
still no hot water and this time when I tried with just the hot water faucet on
the water stopped running so I know they have a serious problem. After getting dressed I attempted to connect
to the Wi-Fi to call Judy. I was not
successful but I was able to receive some emails Facebook which had a picture
of Christine with Robert in the hospital and he was smiling so I guess he was
on the road to recovery.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I joined the gang at breakfast. There was no waitress around and another
guest went looking for her and found her.
We ordered about 07:05. Lynn
announced that he was not going on the tour.
He said the rough roads made the riding so unpleasant he was going to
stay at the hotel and have Mary report to him what we saw. I then tasked him to bird dog the hotel about
the hot water situation. At 07:50 our
breakfast finally arrived and the orders were not correct but we went with what
they delivered.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I finished up rather quickly and again attempted to call
Judy on Vonage I was able to connect for a few minutes and then the line
dropped. About that time our guide
arrived so I returned to the room and got my day pack and a bottle of water I
had in the freezer. That time I also
packed a rain jacket and umbrella.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We departed the hotel about 08:30 and headed east towards
the airport. Our guide stopped to at the
museum manager’s house to find out if it would be open. I don’t think she got a straight answer and
we continued on. A few minutes later we
came upon a wrecked car. Since the road
is so full of pot holes the drive had to be very drunk to even get up to the
speed that would cause the wreck. People
were transferring items from the wreck to another vehicle. I am amazed at the number of wrecked vehicles
I had seen on the island. Of course
there were hundreds of broken down vehicles that could be attributed to the bad
roads but the wrecks I didn’t understand although there were stretches of
smooth roads that drivers, probably out of frustration of the slow pace would
speed up to create a wreak. Someone in
the wreck, most likely the driver got hurt since the windshield was smashed on
the driver’s side.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When were reached the airport we asked our guide to stop so
we could meet with the Fiji Station Agent that I was told was not going to pay
our hotel for Sunday night. The terminal
was locked up but our guide was able to talk to a man through the fence that
opened the Departure Terminal and told us that the Fiji authority in Tarawa was
at the Tobaraoi Travel agency that I had visited on Thursday. We were getting the run-around! There was nothing more we could do at the
airport so we got back in the car and continued the tour of Tarawa.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We continued on, driving up the runway toward North
Island. Bob questioned if that was safe
but our guide told us she did it all the time and she could see in the sky that
no aircraft were approaching the runway.
We were then headed north and soon reached a military style steel bridge
where our guide stopped.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Tarawa is shaped like a backward letter L or a letter Z with
the top removed. The bottom land is
called the South Island and it is a narrow strip running east to west. The airport is at the extreme east end and
the battlefield at the extreme west end.
North of the airfield the land is a series of small islands linked in a
northwest direction and called North Island.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The bridge we stopped at connects the south island to the
north island. Our guide told us that
they used to use a ferry to cross the narrow channel. Then they used a causeway constructed of sand
bags. It was still there just northeast
of the bridge. The water was flowing
over the sand bags in places and a group of boys were running on the causeway
and sliding on the water covered surface.
They appeared to be having a great time with some sliding on their feet
and others on their stomachs.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On the southwest side the channel flowed into a large
shallow lagoon. The tide was out and we
could see people out on the mud flats walking, digging for clams and catching
fish trapped in the pools of water.
There was a point of land with some huts on it. Our guide told us she was going to take us
out there so we got back in the car and crossed the bridge and turned into a
small group of huts and parked careful not to be under a coconut tree. We walked through a settlement of huts toward
the hut on the point.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Along the way our guide pointed out the living conditions,
cooking and kitchen setups. One
“kitchen” had a large bunch of bananas hanging from a rafter, a two plate
Bunsen burner and a sink for washing dishes.
They used a lot of buckets filled with water, many for washing
clothes. The settlement had two large
meeting pavilions. The first one we
walked through had a grass roof and a small stage with three microphones
hanging on a rack. I guess they sing
karaoke. There were men and teen age
boys sprawled on the floor sleeping off the night before party. We encountered one young man that was
climbing the coconut trees with a knife but for the most part we only saw women
awake. Another “kitchen” had a large
pizza style oven and in another hut a woman was frying flat bread in a large
skillet over a wood fire. The bottom
line was there was a large variety in the setup of the huts and cooking areas.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The settlement also had a small store with cans of spam,
corn beef, and fish on one shelf and soy sauce, catsup, curry powder, oil,
vinegar and noodles on another shelf. We
continued on to the hut on the point.
Just before it there were a half dozen grass roofed huts around one
cinderblock building.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At the point we encountered a group of young boys that posed
for pictures with silly faces and hi-fived us.
Inside the hut which was a platform about three feet off the ground,
corrugated metal sides and roof with several old tires to keep it from blowing
off in a storm was the old Grandpa. He
was in his eighties and was happy to see us and pose for a picture.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our guide explained the living arrangements and cooking
setup. We then started back and
encountered the Grandma and her daughter returning to the hut. They stopped and talked to our guide and
posed for pictures. As we walked past
the cinder block building we saw that it was under construction and next to it
was a large meeting hall with a corrugated metal roof and a tile floor. Both men and woman were sprawled on the floor
passed out or sleeping in very uncomfortable positions. In a corner of the structure was a small
altar with a Happy Birthday banner, a statute of the Virgin Mary and a row of
flowers. It must have been a wild party
from the condition of those lying about the settlement.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When we reached the car our guide told us she had made
arrangements for a young man to show us how he husked coconuts. He used a strong pointed piece of wood stuck
in the ground and pushed the coconut down tearing off the husk. When he reached the nut he opened a small
hole and handed it to me to drink. I
have drunken a lot of coconut water in my travels but that was about the best
and the most I have found in one coconut.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We returned to the car and drove back over the bridge to the
airport. That time we did not drive down
the runway because a military C-130J had just landed and was at the ramp. I couldn’t see the side markings but the tail
was plain so it wasn’t a US military aircraft.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Just past the airport we visited a fish farm and a young man
threw flour in one of the fish holding areas to attract the fish so we could
take pictures. They were Milkfish about
eight inches long.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our next stop was the chicken farm. There we saw three large buildings. Two of the builds were full off chickens free
to walk around with feeding circles in the center of an area. We entered the third building where a man was
grading eggs. He would bring the eggs in
from the chicken houses and lay them on a table placing the eggs in waffle
cradles and entered data in a large ledger.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
From the chicken farm we rode to the village of Bikenibeu
and stopped to tour the Catholic Church.
It was decorated with colorful balloons because a wedding was being held
inside. The church had no pews, just an
open floor where the people sat. Next to
the church was a pond our guide called the Virgin Mary pond. It had a statue of the Virgin Mary with a
large star on top on a platform in the center of the pond.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Leaving the church we rode a short distance to the Bikenibeu
Chinese Restaurant for lunch. I ordered
sweet and sour pork again and found it not as good as the lunch I had the
previous day. The museum was next door
and our guide thought they were going to open it for us at noon but it was
locked and she called someone who told her that it was not going to be open
that day.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We then continued on and stopped at the Tobaraoi Travel
agency to meet with the Fiji Station Manager.
He was very pleasant and told us he was aware of our situation. He took some time to find the correspondence authorizing
the hotel to bill Fiji Airways for our Sunday night stay. He finally gave us a copy of an email message
he sent to the agent at the airport to pay the hotel. Since the Tobaraoi Travel agency was next
door to the hotel we stopped for a bio break and I gave the copy of the message
to the hotel receptionist.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When Mary returned to the car she reported that Lynn had
been told the hot water system was beyond repair and a new system was on order
but not in time for our stay.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our next stop was to tour the Ambo Aquarium which was a
project of the Taiwanese to raise fish and clams. A young man gave us a tour. Starting with a large concrete pool of mother
fish where they collect the eggs and have them hatch in other tanks. It was fascinating to see a tank full of fish
that were a quarter of an inch long.
Next he showed us a tank of clams that were very colorful. Most were purple but some were gold and
green.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A short distance from the Aquarium was the Parliament
buildings. We stopped to tour the outside. Several buildings were in the compound. In front was a large oval circle with a map
of the nation’s islands and atolls set in concrete. The Equator and boundaries for the various
island groups were marked and each island group which included the Gilbert,
Phoenix, Northern Line and Southern Line Islands had their islands/atolls
labeled. In my mind it was an impressive
display. Behind the circle was the
Parliament Main Chamber building with a triangle shaped roof. Its entrance was flanked on both sides by in
their words canoe shaped (in my view sail shaped) display buildings. The circle which was tilted so the map could
be seen and the three buildings behind was an impressive site. Behind the main chamber and on both sides
were the Cabinet and other administrative office buildings.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We circled the complex and rode on to the Handicraft
Market. The handcrafts on display were
mainly necklaces, ear rings, broaches and other items made of small sea
shell. They were very attractive if you
like that type of jewelry. There were
also some very good wood carvings.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That was our last stop for the day. Molly told us she would meet us at 08:00 on
Monday to take us to the museum. We bid
her farewell and retired to our rooms.
Lynn reported that he had investigated the lack of hot water situation
and was told the system was busted and a replacement unit was on order but it
was going to take some time before the hotel would provide hot water.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Bob and I wrote in our journals until dinner at 19:00. We invited the other Caucasian guest to dine
with us. His name was Edward but goes by
Ted. He was from Australia, a school
teacher, administrator and consultant under contract to UNESCO to assist third
world countries with their education systems.
He had lived a colorful life and his daughter had followed in his
footsteps, working in foreign countries for IMF. We had great conversation. He had been to the island several times but
had not gone on formal tours like we had taken so he was interested in what we
saw.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After dinner I walked over to reception to try to get a
stronger Wi-Fi signal. I met the owner
of the hotel and during our conversation learned he was a member of the Most
Traveled People (MTP) and that several TCC and MTP members have stayed at the
hotel to visit Kiribati. His name was
Emil Schutz. I looked up his MTP record
and he had recorded visiting 72 locations out of the 875 locations listed.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I returned to my room and retired at 22:00.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Sunday, June, 15, 2014:</b> Tarawa, Kiribati<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I set no alarm and the partying didn’t make too much noise,
so I was able to sleep until almost 07:00.
Bob and I went to breakfast at 08:00 and afterward I was able to connect
briefly with Judy via Voage but she couldn’t hear every word I was saying so we
terminated the call.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I returned to the room and wrote in my journal until noon
when I carried the laptop to reception to get it updated. The connection was so poor I wasn’t even able
to delete all the messages in the Delete folder so I returned to the room and
Bob and I went to lunch. Lynn and Mary
passed but Ted joined us. We ordered
sandwiches. I had tuna and Bob had a
grilled cheese.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After lunch I put my laptop in my day pack and walked over
to the Tobaraoi Travel agency to see if I could purchase some fast Wi-Fi
time. Carrier, the Fiji Manager did not
appear to be around so I walked back and sat in the Reception office for over
an hour slowly processing the emails on my laptop. It was really frustrating and time consuming
but eventually I cleaned them up. When I
returned to my room I wrote in my journal.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At 18:00 we met at reception to calculate our bills. Since I had beer with some of my meals and
Bob had sometimes two cans of soda, a simple 50/50 split was not fair to Bob so
I analyzed each charge slip to determine a fair accounting for Bob. We were surprised to learn they were charging
us for breakfast because Cathy had stated in her document that it would be
included.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After the meeting we went to dinner. I ordered the crumbled Chicken which had a
coating more like KFC than the harder crust they had on their fried
chicken. Ted joined us and we talked
about his report. One of the issues he
needed to calculate was the percentage of literacy in the students and on the
island in general. He felt that the way
the Kiribati government calculated literacy was over stated based on his
analysis of student enrollment and test scores.
He thought the only accurate way would during the census that a simple
test be given each person that would score their ability to read and
write. He said Kiribati was not alone in
overstating the literacy in his analysis in other third world countries. Ted was an interesting dinner companion.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After dinner I called Judy with great difficulty but was
able to briefly connect. When I returned
to my room I started packing for the trip the next day and retired at 22:00.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Monday, June, 16, 2014:</b> Leave Tarawa, Kiribati<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I woke to my alarm at 05:00, showered and packed. Just before 7:00 I went to the reception area
and called Judy on Vonage and then went to the restaurant to order
breakfast. As usual it took about forty
minutes to be served. I had the same
breakfast as the last three mornings: an egg, bacon, sausage link, and toast.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We finished just before 08:00. Molly was waiting for us outside the dining
area and we departed at 08:10 to visit the Culture Center and Museum. It didn’t have a lot on display. I liked their display “A chronology of key
events: Kiribati Timeline” and the warrior armor constructed from coconut fiber. The helmet was something to see with sharp
prongs sticking out.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We returned to the hotel before 09:00. I went to reception to coordinate our ride to
the airport. The clerk on duty called
Fiji Airways and was told we needed to check in between 09:30 and 10:00. I questioned why we needed to be at the
airport over three hours before the scheduled departure of 13:05. The clerk then told me check in was not at
the airport it was just next door at the Fiji agent’s office. I scheduled the bus for 09:40 and informed
the rest of the group. They couldn’t
believe we didn’t have to go to the airport to check in but Molly was still
there and confirmed it was done at the Tobaraoi Travel agency. We said our ‘good-bye’s’ to Molly and went to
our room to get our bags.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It only took a few minutes to ride to the Tobaraoi Travel
agency. There we lined up on the porch
and the check in station was setup next to an open window. It was a little confusing and when I checked
in they told me my carryon was too heavy.
I transferred my laptop and Lonely Planet books to my day pack and
cleared the weight. I was given a
baggage tag and then had to go inside to the café to get my boarding
passes. They charged $3.00 to take our
bag to the airport and another $3.00 US exchange fee. I got the others to pool our baggage fees and
then only one bank fee would be needed.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
They couldn’t find Lynn and Mary’s reservation at first so I
went searching through my correspondence from Cathy to find their ticket
number. They finally found their
record. They were told that for $7 per
head they could get a ride to the airport.
Carrier, the Fiji Manager, told me that usually the hotel takes its
guests to the airport because they need to meet the arriving plane and he would
call for them to pick us up when it would be time for the Departure Terminal to
open at the airport.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I purchase thirty minutes of Wi-Fi and called Judy and only
used half the time. Carrier told me I
could use the rest at the airport. The
hotel bus arrived and we rode to the airport.
There we processed through Immigration and had to pay a 20 AUD departure
tax. My bags had no trouble at the
security but they gave Bob some static on his bag’s toilet articles and Lynn
and Mary had to be checked twice.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We finally boarded the aircraft at 12:45 and departed at
13:15. The flight was not full and I
moved to a row where I had no one in the middle seat. The hassle at check in left me a little
exhausted and I slept on the most of the flight. They served a nice chicken stir fry lunch.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
My visit to the country of Kiribati was over. I only had one more UN member country to
visit to reach my goal of visiting every country in the UN.<o:p></o:p></div>
Edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03034021752003929779noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2230692068076603436.post-10351387841467895392014-07-09T18:20:00.001-07:002014-07-09T18:20:19.348-07:00Laos Tour Journal – May 2014<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Overview:</b> <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My Laos tour was scheduled with Advantage Travel &
Tours, Poway, California to complete my visits to all the countries in
Asia. The trip was a post-tour to a
month long tour of Sri Lank, Maldives, India, Bangladesh and Myanmar. Through Bangladesh I was traveling with a
group but for Myanmar and Laos I went solo.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The journal starts with my leaving Myanmar, spending the
night in Bangkok and then flying on to Laos.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Thursday, May, 08, 2014: </b>Fly Bangkok, Thailand to
Luang Prabang, Laos and tour Luang Prabang, Laos<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I woke without an alarm about 05:30, showered, shaved,
packed and went to breakfast at 07:00.
It was a large buffet style but I had one egg over, beans and bacon plus
rolls and tea.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At 08:00 I started the checkout process. I left my new bag filled with things I didn’t
think I would need in Laos at the Bellman station, then settled my bill and
took the hotel van to the airport. Check-in
at the Laos Airlines counter was fast and easy.
They affixed a sticker to my shirt indicating I was a Laos
passenger. I then took some time to fill
out my Departure card and process through Immigration. Security was strange. They had a full body scan but required that I
remove my shoes. Belts and watches were
OK but not shoes – go figure.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Laos Airline assigned gate was a long distance from the
Security point. Along the way I picked
up a user name and password for 60 minutes free airport Wi-Fi. The only problem was the area around the
counter where they issued the user name and password did not have a strong
enough signal to sign. I returned to the
counter and the girl told me it worked better the floor below and sure enough
when I went down the escalator to the floor below I could sign in. I sat there for a while processing email and
then headed to my gate.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The plane was an ATR-72-500 and it had very few
passengers. It was very clean looking
and had larger overhead bins than the Indian and Myanmar ATRs. Two young ladies from the US sat across the
aisle from me.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At Luang Prabang I found the airport to look new with only
one other plane on the ramp. We had a
long walk to the International Arrivals Hall.
There we had to process Visa on Arrival.
The first window took our applications for a visa which I had been
provided on the plane, plus a passport photo.
Then at the next window which I had to walk through a maze to get to, I
had to pay $36. The final window after
walking through a maze again was the Immigration Agent and there my photo was
taken and my passport stamped. My bag
was just coming on the carousel when I reached the Baggage Claim area.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Outside I found a young man with a sign with my name on
it. When I aked him his name he showed
me a small laminated card with the name “Ounkham” on it. The driver’s name was Dao. We loaded my bags in a new Toyota Hiace
van. It had left hand drive and in Laos
the drive on the right side of the road.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Just as I entered the van it started to rain and in the
short distance to the hotel it rained even harder. I retrieved my rain jacket from my carry-on
and put it on for the dash from the van up a walkway to the hotel reception
area of the ‘My Dream Boutique Resort’.
While processing my registration they served me a glass of cold fruit
juice, a cold wash cloth and a small plate of mango with honey dripped over
it. I also obtained a Wi-Fi password and
found I could make a Vonage call to Judy.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When the rain started to lessen my bags were retrieved from
the van and sent to my room then they led me to my room which was in a separate
building, down a flight of stairs outside from Reception, past the pool and up
a flight of stairs to the second level of another building.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The room was fair sized with power outlets at the head of
the bed on both sides and an outlet at a desk for my laptop. There was a porch with two chairs and a
clothes rack. The shower was large and
the bathroom floor was slate.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The rain stopped and I met Ounkham at Reception to start our
tour. We had to walk through several
inches of water to get to the van.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The city is on the east side of the Mekong River and is
divided by the Nam Kham River which flows into the Mekong River and north of
the Nam Kham River lays the airport and my hotel. Although the hotel overlooks the city the
only bridge that can support automobiles is a little distance east of the city.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our first stop was lunch at the Tamnak Lao Resturant. I was served a set menu determined by the Travel
Agency. It started with soup, a clear
broth with greens and pork balls, followed by a fish mixture in cooked in a
banana leaf (Mok Pa Lao), then chicken with oyster sauce, boiled onions and
cashew nuts Khua Gai Maak Muang), fried spring rolls with a peanut and vinegar
dipping sauce. Dessert was water melon,
pineapple and small bananas. I had a 640ml
bottle of Beerlao.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After lunch at 14:00, we walked down Sakkarine Road past a
1930 era Citron in beautiful condition owned by a local hotel to Wat Sene, a
pagoda with Lao design. It had a four
layer roof somewhat like Thai design but unique to Laos. It had beautiful gold figures on the outside
walls. In a long shed in the compound
two long boats (canoes) were stored. The
boats were used in the Boat Racing Festival every year between teams from local
villages. Thirty five men row the 104
foot long thin boats.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We then walked up to the Wat Xienthong (Temple of the Golden
City) stupa and monastery. It had
recently been restored under the World Heritage guidance with $215,000 provided
by the United States. Among the unique
aspects of the compound was buildings decorated with colorful cut glass
figures, the King had imported the glass for use in his palace and donated the
left overs to be used to decorate the buildings.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
From the compound we boarded the van and rode up to the
entrance to That Phousy, a pagoda that was built on the top of Mt. Phousy
overlooking the city. To reach the top I
had to climb 300 steps. The Buddha
statues in the pagoda were beautiful and the view of the area impressive. We took another route down and on that route
there were many gold Buddha figures.
There was a young Japanese woman that asked if it was correct to take
the path we were on since it was not the stairs she remembered climbing. We assured her that the path would lead her
back to the street and that there were many sites to see on the path. She walked with us for a while and she turned
out to be an American from Orange County.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Among the figures we passed were a reclining Buddha and
standing Buddha with hands in various positions. They were beautiful figures. As we got close to the street the path lead
us through a group of houses with people going about their daily
activities. A big contrast to the
hotels, restaraunts, and tourist shops we had passed on our walk along
Sakkarine Road.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our next stop was at That Pathum (Lotus Stupa) but commonly
referred to as That Makmo, (watermelon in Lao) because of its unique shape like
a watermelon instead of a cone shape so many stupas have. Across the plaza was Wat Visoun pagoda with
the largest Buddha in the city. I didn’t
take my shoes off because I had a cut on the heel of my left foot from walking
on rough ground in Myanmar and I didn’t want to risk an infection so Ounkham
took my camera inside and shot some good photos of the gold Buddha. While he was inside I talked with a couple of
young men, one from London and the other from Vermont. They asked me a lot of questions about
Myanmar, the next stop on their travels.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As we left the pagoda I asked Ounkham about a game court
painted on the concrete plaza. He
explained that it was for his favorite game, Rattan, which is like volley ball
but the players have to use only their feet to kick the ball over the net.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was 15:40 and I was delivered back to my hotel to rest
before dinner at 19:00. I spent the
time, first hanging my clothes wet from perspiration in the sun to dry and
taking a swim in the hotel pool and then writing in my journal.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At 19:00 in my dry clothes I went to dinner at the Un Petit
Nid Restaurant. I was surprised when I
took out my smart phone to find Wi-Fi and the waiter seeing what I was doing
gave me a small laminated card with the password on it. Ounkham had told me that Wi-Fi has only been
introduced in the city two years ago and now all the tourist restaaruants and
hotels offer free Wi-Fi and it has decent bandwidth.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For the dinner it was a set menu designed by the Tour
Agency. It started with a delicious
vegetable soup, unique in that the carrot pieces and other vegetable pieces
were crunchy and larger than the usual vegetable soup. The main was a dish with chicken, cut green
beans and a peanut sauce. Dessert was
the same as lunch and I had another bottle of Beerleo.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I was back to my room by 20:00 and in bed by 22:00.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Friday, May, 09, 2014: </b>Cruise the Mekong River to
visit Pak Ou Caves, Laos<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At 03:33 I woke to a strong thunderstorm. I don’t know what the significance was of my
clock reading 03.33 but I rolled over and went back to sleep until 06:30. The shower had very hot water after I ran it
for a long time and just fair water pressure.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A little after seven o’clock I went to breakfast and had a
waffle, fruit, juice and tea. There was
a large tree on the patio extension of the dining area and it had lost a large
branch in the storm. Returning to my room
I prepared for my Mekong River cruise.
In the course of locking up my valuables in the safe I must not have set
the combination correctly and I couldn’t open it. I return to the front desk and a receptionist
came to my room with a special key and unlocked the safe. Ounkham was already waiting for me so we left
early for the boat.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Dao drove us to the city ferry landing. Along the way through the city we passed the Bureau
of Administration building and a group of people, mostly ladies were out front
tending to the flower garden that bordered the sidewalk. They were dressed in business attire and when
I questioned Ounkham he told me that the custom was every Friday morning the
staff of offices clean up the area around their office before settling down to
business.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When we reached the ferry landing I walked down to a group
of house boats tied together. Our boat
was easy to get to. It was 95 feet long
with the wheel house in the bow and a kitchen and living area in the stern. In between there were two couches and eight seats
with small tables. The seats looked like
they came from an automobile. They had a
reclining handle on the side and adjustable headrests making it very
comfortable for the cruise. In back of
the seating area was a bar and a cabinet of soft drinks and beer. Behind the bar was a flush toilet.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I felt a little funny sitting in the big boat with just Ounkham
and myself. The skipper’s 5 year old boy
was playing in the wheel house. We
pushed off into the river around 08:35.
As we cruised up the river I saw young boys swimming, fishermen in their
small boats and fisherman on the shore.
There were a number of fish nets in the river marked with plastic
bottles. Boats the same size and style
as the one I was in were cruising both up and down the river. Cargo boats with double deck living quarters
in the stern were coming down the river.
Ounkham told me they were bringing cargo, mostly cement from northern
Thailand.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The river was near its lowest level and I was surprised by
the number of rocks that protruded. Some
of them had concrete columns on them to mark their location when the river
rises during the rainy season. About an
hour up stream we passed the state prison on the north side of the river. It had two main buildings, one for males and
one for females. Below the buildings
along the bank of the river the prisoner’s had vegetable gardens. On the south side was a group of water
buffalo in the marshes along the edge of the river and then ten minutes later
we passed a fish farm where they raise catfish and tilapia on the south side of
the river. Further along on the south
side were groves of teak trees.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At 10:10 we docked at the village of Xang Hai were I was
shown how they make rice wine and liquor.
The village used to specialize in pottery jug making but with influx of
tourist after the civil water they turned their jugs into containers for the
processing of wine and liquor. The
village had an elaborate stupa and monastery with many gold Buddha and even a
quarter size white elephant with a mother figure holding two children in gonad
on top of the elephant driven by a man sitting on the neck of the
elephant. The compound also stored two
racing boats with positions for 28 rowers.
One of the interesting figures in the compound was the figure of a
hermit sitting in the lotus position meditating. It had a long beard with a birds nest in it
indicating his peaceful meditation.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
From the pagoda compound we walked through the main street
of the village with stalls on both sides selling tourists handicrafts back to a
dock and boarded our boat. We had spent
only thirty minutes in the village.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Thirty minutes later we arrived at the Pak Ou Caves, named
after the junction of the Ou and Mekong Rivers.
There were two caves. We docked
at the lower cave (Tham Ting) and had to climb about 50 steps to get to cave
which was filled with 2,500 Buddha sculptures.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The following is a description of the caves posted on plaques
in the caves:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: center;">
<i>History<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>The
first use of the caves for religious purposes was at the time when local
population worshipped Phi, or sprits of nature.
It is said that the caves are associated with a river sprit.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>It
is believed that the Lao people first entered the river valley in the middle of
the eight century after moving southward from south China. It was not until considerably later that
Buddhism first spread into the area from the west.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>By
the 16<sup>th</sup> century Buddhism had been adopted by the royal families of
Leo and the caves received patronage from that time until 1975. Every year the King and the people of Luang
Prabang made a pilgrimage to the caves as part of the New Year religious
observances. Artisans were commissioned
by the royal family to prepare sculptures.
Many of the carvings in the cave date from between the 18<sup>th</sup>
and 20<sup>th</sup> centuries.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: center;">
<i>Sculptures of Buddha<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>The
more that 4,000 sculptures of Buddha now found in the Tam Ting caves have been
placed there by worshippers. For the
most part they are carved from wood or molded from a tree resin, then coated
with red or black lacquer, and then covered with gold leaf. A few of the sculptures are carved from
animal horn or made from bronze or a low-fired ceramic.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>Common
poses are three of the positions which depict important stages in the life of
Buddha: ‘Calling for Rain’ with the figure standing and the arms pointing
downwards, ‘Calling the Earth to Witness’ with the figure seated and one hand
extended downwards and ‘Meditation’ where the hands are crossed in front of a
seated figure. ‘Stop Arguing’, where the
figure is standing and the palms of the hand are extended outwards and the
‘Reclining’ positions are not common.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: center;">
<i>Lower Cave<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>The
mouth of the lower cave is a prominent landmark visible from the Mekong River. Paved pathways lead up to this cave as well as
to the upper cave, some 60 meters above the river.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>Approximately
2,500 sculptures are located in the lower cave.
A focal point for visitors is the altar closest to the entry where
offerings of flowers incense and candles are made. Lion figures guard the entry while a Ramayana
sculpture of a ‘hermit’ associated with forest medicines sites immediately
above the lower entry platform. A large
stupa-like structure surmounts the highest platform. A smaller stupa on the cliff face to the
south holds the ashes of a recently deceased villager.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>A
small spring in the cave supplied holy water which was used during the annual
New Year ceremony.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After visiting the lower cave we climbed about 100 steps to
the upper cave with was set back into the mountain so we were issued flash
lights to see the sculptures inside.
They were more impressive than the lower cave and due to the steps to
get to them they don’t get the traffic the lower cave receives.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Walking back down to our boat we crossed the river to eat
lunch at the Manivanh Restaurant in the village of Tamting. In the restaurant was a picture of the
restaurant taken on 12/08/2008 when the river crested as the result of China
releasing water into the Mekong. The
picture showed the water up to the table level.
In the lower cave there was a mark of the water height in 2008 and one
in 1966 when flooding did damage all the way to Viet Nam.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For lunch I was served another set meal ordered by the
Travel Agency. It had soup with thin
rice noodles and vegetables, now as good as the day before. Spring rolls which I devoured with the peanut
sauce and chicken and oyster sauce which I couldn’t finish. Dessert was pineapple and watermelon.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We headed back to Luang Prabang at 12:50. Going down stream was faster but we were
cruising into the wind which helped dry my shirt from the perspiration I obtained
from climbing the stairs in the caves.
At 14:00 we docked at the village of Xangkhong known for its textile
natural dyes and weaving plus Ariya Paper making. We walked around the village watching
weaving. I received a presentation on
the Silk Worm Life’s Cycle. They had
baskets of each stage in the 45 day life cycle:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
</div>
<ul>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">1.</span><span style="font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">
</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Egg</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">2.</span><span style="font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">
</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Worm</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">3.</span><span style="font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">
</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Larvae</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">4.</span><span style="font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">
</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Butterfly</span></li>
</ul>
<!--[if !supportLists]--><o:p></o:p><br />
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I then was shown the process to make the silk into thread
and the weaving of silk cloth. They also
showed me the various sources for dyes and the process to create the dye that
can be used to color the silk thread. It
was a quiet little village and Ounkham told me every family in the village is
in the business of silk production or paper production and they are well off.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Dao picked us up in the van and it was just a five minute
drive to the hotel. When I entered the
reception area I found they were chopping down the tree that had lost its limb
in the storm.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Back in the room I had thought of swimming but got engrossed
with writing in my journal until 19:00 when Ounkham took me to dinner at the
Pak Houay Mixay Restaurant. It was more
crowded than the restaurant I ate in the night before. Two large tourist groups were sitting in the
outside area with me and inside the tables were full of locals. The food did not appeal to me. I had some soup and crispy pork sausage and a
little bit of the chicken dish. I found
the dishes bland and there were no sauces.
One of the dishes was a plate of ground up pork that I did not like at
all. The restaurant had some nice murals
on their walls and I took some pictures and was back in my room by a little
after eight o’clock.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I was able to make a Vonage call to Judy, wrote in my
journal until 22:30 when I went to bed.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Saturday, May, 10, 2014: </b>Tour Luang Prabang, Laos and
then fly Luang Prabang, Laos to Vientiane, Laos<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I slept until 06:00 when my alarm woke me from a sound
sleep. I guess the step climbing the day
before had tired me out more than I thought.
After showering and shaving I went to breakfast and had two eggs over (I
had asked for one) and one piece of toast (I had put two in the toaster and had
a hard time getting them out so one of the waiters tried to help and what every
he did it shot the piece of toast across the room). I also had a muffin, fruit, orange juice and
tea.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After breakfast I returned to my room and finished
packing. At 08:45 I called Judy on
Vonage and then met Ounkham in the lobby.
As we rode toward the National Museum we rode past a row of vendors
selling light meals and tourist items. Ounkham told me there were set up for
the backpackers to buy a cheap breakfast.
Dao stopped short of the museum and Ounkham led me down the traditional
market ally where the locals purchase fresh vegetables and fish. It was not as hectic as other traditional
markets I have visited. The market ended
near the side of the museum and we walked by a long row of tourist vans and
busses on both sides of the street.
Rounding the corner to the entrance of the museum grounds I saw large
crowds of tourists. The stairs to Mt.
Phousy was across from the museum entrance and streams of tourists were
climbing up and down the mountain in addition to streaming into the museum
grounds.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I stood in the shade of a tree while Ounkham bought the
museum tickets. The museum was in the
former palace of the King so the grounds were very elaborate. A new pagoda recently built to hold the
original Lao Buddha was included in the compound. It took almost 10 years to build.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
No cameras were allowed in the museum and no shoes but socks
were allowed. I asked for a brochure and
they were out of stock. (Bummer)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The building was built by the French in 1905 as the King’s
Palace so the layout inside was centered on the throne room. The front entry room was a ceremonial room facing
the throne room and to the right was the King’s reception room. The reception room walls were adored by a
panoramic painting of Lao life. At the end of the room were busts of King Ounkham
(1872-1889); King Khamsouk (1890-1904) and King Sisavanguong (1905-1959).<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The throne room had two thrones on display. The larger of the two was built in 1967 by
King Sisavangvatthana (1959-1975), the last King of Laos. On the wall in back of the thrones were
figures in colored glass. In the back of
the Place was the Queen’s bedroom, the King’s bedroom and the children’s
bedroom. The later had been converted to
display musical instruments.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
To the left of the front ceremonial room was the Queen’s
reception room which now contained a display of the gifts the royal family
received from various countries. The
United States gifts on display included a moon rock presented by President
Nixon. Adjoining that room was a room
with full size paintings of the last King, Queen and Prince painted by a
Russian artist.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We exited the museum and retrieved our shoes and my camera
and then walked around the building to a garage building that contained the
Royal Cars Exhibition. Inside photos
were not allowed. On exhibit was a 35hp
speed boat with a Johnson & Johnson outboard motor; a 1972 Toyota Jeep; a
1960’s era; a 1950’s era Lincoln Continental III limousine; a 1958 Edsel Citation;
and a 1950 French Citroen. At the end of
the building were pictures of the chauffeurs that drove the cars and the
information that the chauffeurs preferred the stick shift cars over the
automatic transmission cars. I can
imagine that the roads in the 1950’s and 1960’s favored the control that stick
shifts provided.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Leaving the car exhibit we walked to a huge circular pond
filled with tilapia. Some were quite large.
Just past the pond was the Royal Ballet Theatre. They have performances of Laotian dances four
days a week during the tourist season.
The pictures displayed indicated they would be very colorful
performances. Heading back to the center
of the museum compound we passed a giant statue of King Sisavanguong.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Across the compound from the theater was the new
pagoda. We were not allowed to enter but
I was able to take a picture from below the steps of the standing Buddha that
was recently moved from the museum to the new pagoda. The Buddha was cast in Sri Lanka in 1359 and eventually
presented to the King of Laos upon his conversion to Buddhism. It is named the Prabang Buddha and is genius
of the city’s name of Luang Prabang. It
is also called the “Pra Bang” or "Pha Bang" Buddha. A description of the Buddha and its history
follows:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>The
statue is an 83cm [32 inches]-high standing Buddha with palms facing forward,
cast in bronze and covered in gold leaf. According to local lore, it was cast in Ceylon
(now Sri Lanka) sometime between the 1st and 9th century. However, the features
of the image suggest a much later Khmer origin. The Phra Bang arrived in Lan
Xang in 1353 from Angkor and was used to spread Theravada Buddhism in the new
kingdom. In 1359 the Khmer king gave the Phra Bang to his son-in-law, the first
Lang Xang monarch Fa Ngum (1353-1373); to provide Buddhist legitimacy both to
Fa Ngum's rule and by extension to the sovereignty of Laos. <o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>The
Phra Bang has long been seen by devout Buddhists as a symbol of the right to
rule Laos, as only a commendable and virtuous government deserves to be caretaker
of such a sacred image. In 1778, the Siamese (now Thai) invaded Viang Chan and
captured the Phra Bang, taking it back to Bangkok. There, political upheaval
and misfortune were attributed to the Phra Bang, and in 1782 it was returned to
the Lao people. Again in 1828, the Siamese captured the Phra Bang but again
returned it in 1867 after a similar of political upheaval.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>Each
year, on the third day of "Pimai" or Lao New Year, the Phra Bang is
taken in procession to Wat Mai. There it is exhibited at a shrine where the
Buddha image is ritually bathed by devout laypeople during Lao New Year
festivities.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>The
Phra Bang has long been seen by devout Buddhists as a symbol of the right to
rule Laos, as only a commendable and virtuous government deserves to be caretaker
of such a sacred image. In 1778, the Siamese (now Thai) invaded Viang Chan and
captured the Phra Bang, taking it back to Bangkok. There, political upheaval
and misfortune were attributed to the Phra Bang, and in 1782 it was returned to
the Lao people. Again in 1828, the Siamese captured the Phra Bang but again
returned it in 1867 after a similar of political upheaval.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>There
remains doubt whether the image is the same object that was given to Fa Ngum. Some suggest that the image on display is a
copy and that the original is kept in a bank vault in Vientiane for
safekeeping. Another local rumor
suggests that the Phra Bang was given to the Soviets in 1975 in exchange for
aid during the Cold War. Whether or not
there is any substance to the rumors, the Phra Bang remains an object of
veneration and a reminder of the rich traditions of Luang Prabang.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We left the museum grounds and walked back to the street
were all the tourist vans and busses had been parked. Along the way we passed a man playing a
beautiful tune on a native string instrument.
All the more reason I would have enjoyed attending a Royal Ballet
performance. When we turned the corner
the street was almost empty of tourist vehicles. The sun was hot and I guess their climbs to
Mt. Phousy and visits to the museum were over.
Dao delivered me back to the hotel by 10:45.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I shed my shirts and hung them up to dry. When I opened the door to the porch I cut my
finger on the latch and couldn’t get it to stop bleeding. My big bag which contained bandages had
already been moved to the reception area so I had to ask the desk clerk for a
bandage. They gave me several and I was
back in the room where I plugged in my laptop and wrote in my journal.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At noon I packed up and lugged my carry on down to reception
and met Ounkham. I officially checked
out and Dao drove us to the Misaiphon Restaurant for lunch. I was surprised to see the Thai family that
had sat at a nearby table at dinner the night before sitting at a nearby table
having lunch. They had caught my
attention because one of the women was spoon feeding what looked like a ten
year old boy who was totally engrossed playing a game on his iPad. This time the boy was facing me and blowing
bubble gum and not eating. He then got
up and wandered around the restaurant while his family ate. He would occasionally return to the woman and
hug her. What appeared to be his older
brother ate quietly across the table and what I guess was the father sat
frowning. He appeared to me to be a very
spoiled child.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For lunch I was served, tempura vegetables, cabbage soup, a
chicken dish, a stir fried vegetable dish and rice. This time I limited the soup not because I
didn’t like it but I didn’t want to fill up on it. I ate all the tempura and chicken dish. For dessert I had water melon and papaya
pieces. Ounkham joined me. It would be our last time together because he
was picking up some new clients at the airport and his wife would accompany me
for my check in at 17:00.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When we left the restaurant we stopped at the Kaysone Phom
Vihane Monument. He was a Pathet Lao
hero and the first President of Laos after the revolution. I was back at the hotel by 13:30, bid
farewell to Ounkham and set up my laptop in the reception area to work on my
journal. At 16:45 Or, Ounkham’s wife
arrived to escort me to the airport. She
was one of the most beautiful young ladies I had seen in Laos. She works as a ground agent for Bangkok
Airways at the airport but was on maternity leave having had a baby girl three
months ago. Having her as my escort in
the airport made the process a breeze since all the airport employees knew her.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The terminal was large but not very busy and had limited air
conditioning and no Wi-Fi. My flight to Vientiane
was scheduled on an A-320 and they used an air bridge to board the
passengers. The plane was very clean and
in excellent condition. I was assigned
to a window seat and had a young Japanese lady sitting next to me. She spoke excellent English and was just
completing a ten day vacation in Laos.
We talked about travel and working in foreign countries. She has worked in a number of interesting
places and has visited Los Angeles several times.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The flight only took thirty minutes and we were so engrossed
in conversation that I forgot my day pack when I exited the aircraft and had to
send an airline employee back to retrieve it from under the seat.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I was met by Boungsong (‘Song’), the guide I would have for
the next two days. He took me to a
restaurant for dinner before checking in to the hotel. The restaurant was the Kualao and it was very
busy with a four piece band and native dancers.
Their performances were very similar to Thai dancing. The meal was again designed by the travel
agency and it turned out to be one of the best.
For once they served me a normal sized bowl of soup. I wish I knew the exact ingredients but it
was delicious. Then they served deep
fried pieces of fish with a delicious sauce.
Next they served chicken and ginger, rice and sticky rice. The best part was dessert which was a cooked
banana in honey and a scoop of vanilla and of chocolate ice cream. I finished in less than an hour at 20:30 and
arrived at the Sengtawan Riverside Hotel ten minutes later. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The hotel was dated, the room sparsely
furnished with a very hard mattress. The
shower was in the middle of the bathroom with the drain near where your feet
are when you sit on the toilet. At least
they had a flush toilet but no amenities’, no soap, no shampoo, barely toilet
paper and a towel. I had to unplug the
TV to get an outlet for my laptop. There
was an open outlet near the bedside table for my CPAP machine. Later I discovered the amenities across the
bedroom in a little basket tray. Further
testimony to the type of hotel it was is that they list an Inventory of all the
items in the room with their value. They
didn’t list the amenities.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Wi-Fi was initially weak in the room so I couldn’t enter
the password. I went down to the lobby and
it was strong and I was able to call Judy on Vonage. When I returned to the room both my laptop
and smart phone were able to connect. I
wrote in my journal and retired at 22:30.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Sunday, May, 11,
2014:</b> Tour Vientiane, Laos<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My alarm woke me from a sound sleep at 06:00. The shower was interesting since it was in
the middle of the bathroom. It took a
long time to get hot water and I had to be careful to not spray the toilet paper
and dry towels on a rack at the end of the bathroom. I survived the encounter and went to
breakfast at 07:00. The hotel restaurant
was on the top (5<sup>th</sup>) floor of the hotel. It had a nice view of the muddy Mekong and of
the Thailand side of the river. No
tables had place settings I had to ask to find where they stored the silverware
in baskets with a napkin covering them.
I had a precooked fried egg, toast, fruit and tea. The Wi-Fi was strong so I called Judy and
found she was out shopping and the call was forwarded from the house number to
her cell phone and eventually the signal was dropped.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I returned to my room and prepared for the day’s tour and
processed email. The tour was scheduled
for 08:30 and I lost track of time and didn’t shut down my laptop until
08:45. Song was at the front desk trying
to call my room when I arrived in the lobby.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our first stop on the day’s tour was the Tat Luang
complex. It was a huge area with the Pha
That Luang stupa looming over the complex at one end. To the left was the newly built beautiful
convention center. In the center of the
complex was a statue of King Sayasetthathirath sitting on a throne in warrior
dress with a sword across his lap. The
stupa’s profile was once the symbol on the Lao flag and is still considered the
national symbol of the country. Song
told me that it was originally built as a Hindu temple in the 3rd century. Buddhist missionaries brought a holy relic
(believed to be the breast bone) of Lord Buddha to the stupa. It was rebuilt in the 13th century as a Khmer
temple which fell into ruin. In the
mid-16th century, King Setthathirat relocated his capital from Luang Prabang to
Vientiane and ordered construction of Pha That Luang in 1566.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Song got me a brochure that provided the following:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>Pha
That Luang was destroyed by the Thai invasion in 1828, which left it heavily
damaged and left abandoned. It was not
until 1900 that the French restored to its original design based on the
detailed drawings from 1867 by the French architect and explorer Louis
Delaporte. However the first attempt to
restore it was unsuccessful and it had to be redesigned and then reconstructed
in the 1930s. During the Franco-Thai
War, Pha That Luang was heavily damaged during a Thai air raid. After the end of World War II, Pha That Luang
was reconstructed. <o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In its early form, Pha That Luang was not as high as it is
now, but after Lord Buddha’s ashes were placed at the site and a new stupa was
built around the original obelisk, the monument took on its current shape and
grew in importance as a place of worship for Lao Buddhists.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The following newspaper article written in 2011 was on
display describing the stupa:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-align: center;">
<b><i>That Luang Stupa: The legend<o:p></o:p></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>According
to legend, which is supported by physical evidence found from the reign of King
Jayavoraman VII, the original obelisk was indeed an ancient Cham construction
that was built sometime between the 9th and 14th centuries.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>Many
artifacts have been discovered at the site including a statue of Jayavoraman
VII dating from between AD 1181 and 1219, which is presently located at the
northern end of the inner cloister.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>The
story of Pha That Luang became clear at the beginning of the 16th century,
which is known among historians as the middle of the ancient Lao period. King
Saysetthathirath ordered the construction of the current stupa in AD 1566, six
years after designating Vientiane as the capital of Laos.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>Previously,
the capital was situated in what is now Luang Prabang (then known as
Xiengthong). King Saysetthathirath built the grand stupa so the new capital
would have an equally splendid place of worship similar to the Grand Stupa in
Chiang Mai, which at that time was the capital of the neighbouring Lane Na
kingdom, now northern Thailand.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>The
king wanted to project himself as a patron of Buddhism and to achieve
enlightment like the Lord<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>Buddha,
but before doing so he needed to make merit in all aspects of his life.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>He
also wanted a site where he could hold an annual festival that would provide an
occasion to test the loyalty of his chief administrators from all corners of
the Lane Xang kingdom. This festival would also pay homage to the gods and to
King Fa Ngum, who is attributed with bringing the third wave of Buddhism to
Laos.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>Through
this annual event, the king wanted the people of the Lane Xang kingdom to come
together to make merit and observe religious practices, celebrate together and
consolidate solidarity, strengthening the kingdom to ensure it remained
intact. The festival (now know as That
Luang Festival) has been held every year since.
<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>Because
King Saysetthathirath wanted to be a Bhothiyana, an enlightened one, he came up
with the idea of surrounding the main stupa with 30 smaller stupas of equal
size known as Palami (fulfillment of goodness) stupas. At the base of each small stupa, a flattened
plate of gold was inscribed with words depicting ariyasat (the four noble
truths - the essence of Lord Buddha’s teachings). These plates also contain
information of the date of the renovation of the stupa to its current size and
can still be seen today inside the cloister at the eastern entrance of That
Luang.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>The
wording on the fourth line of plates reads: “This stupa contains the ashes of
Lord Buddha and was built by King Saysetthathirath. May it last for more than
5,000 years."<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>The
revered sacred place has been worn out over time and damaged by wars
perpetrated by foreign imperialists. Whenever the country was invaded,
religious and sacred places of worship such as That Luang were among the first
targets for looting and indiscriminate destruction.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>This
article originally appeared in the Vientiane Times on 7 November, 2011. <o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>By
Ms Phon Khikeo<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Song led me around back of the stupa where a large golden
390-foot-long reclining Buddha lay. Next
Song took me to a pagoda where instead of building a pagoda or restoring a
pagoda to mark your life people could paint elaborate paintings on the ceiling
or walls of a temple. I took some
pictures of the very colorful temple from outside. That was our last stop at the Pha That Luang
complex. I boarded the van for a drive
to Patouxay.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Patouxay means meaning Victory Gate or Gate of Triumph as it
resembles the Arc de Triumph in Paris. However,
it is typically Laotian in design, decorated with mythological creatures. It was built between 1957 and 1968 when Laos
was a constitutional monarchy and was originally known simply as the
"Anousavali" ("memory"), dedicated to the memory of the
Laotian soldiers who died during World War II and the independence war from
France in 1949. The monument was built
using American funds and cement intended to build a new airport. The Royal Laotian Government instead built the
monument, which earned it the nickname of the "vertical runway".<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I climbed the stairs to the top observation point where I
had panoramic views of the city. They
had one stairway to go up and a different one to go down. There was a handicraft store at the top of
the seven flights of stairs. At that
point a circular iron stairway led to the very top. After my picture taking I descended and saw
the following sign:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>At
the northeastern end of the Lane Xang Ave. arises a huge structure resembling
the Arc de Triumph. It is the Patuxay or
Victory Gate of Vientiane, built in 1962, but never completed due to the
country’s turbulent history. From a
closer distance, it appears even less impressive, like a monster of
concrete. Nowadays this place is used as
leisure ground for people of Vientiane and the seventh floor on top of the
building serves as excellent view point over the city.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Song took my picture in front of the fountain on the south
side of the monument and then we rode on to the Lao National Museum. Again no photographs allowed. It had two floors with four main
galleries. On the first floor was
Pre-History including:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
</div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Ancient Geology</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Ancient Anthropology</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Stone Ages</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Clan Based on Meuang</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Principality like Meuang</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Mixed Cultural Society</span></li>
<li><br /></li>
<li>The other first floor gallery was Present Development in Lao
P.D.R. Since 1975. </li>
<li><br /></li>
<li>The second floor had
a gallery for Ancient History which included:</li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Founding of Lane Xang Kingdom</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Lane Xang Kingdom with Xiengthong (Luang
Prabang) as Capital</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Lane Xang Kingdom with Vientiane as Capital</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Division of Lane Xang Kingdom</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">The three Lane Xang Kingdom under rule of Siam</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><br /></span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">The other second floor gallery
was Modern History which included:</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">French colonialism</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">American Imperialism</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Period of National Development</span></li>
</ul>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
I was interested in the close relationship between the Pathet
Leo and Ho Chi Ming. There was one
picture I would like to have taken showing in red on a black and white map the
areas that were bombed during the Vietnam War.
Laos is thought to be the most bombed country in the world. What was not mentioned was they were not
supposed to be taking part in the Vietnam War but let the North Vietnamese freely
use the roads in eastern Laos as the Ho Chi Ming Trail to move men and supplies
down to Cambodia and to attack South Vietnam.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The other display I liked in the museum was the Plain of
Jars because I couldn’t visit it on this trip.
It explained the development theories and use of the jars that I had always
been curious about. All told I spent
about an hour in the museum.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our next stop was at the Sisaket Temple and Museum built in
1818. It featured a cloister wall with
more than 2000 ceramic and silver Buddha images. The images were neatly lined up and at the
end of a galley was a cage of broken images in a pile with a sign that said:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: center;">
<i>Store Room<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>These
[are] broken pieces of the Buddha statues.
They were destroyed by the war.
These broken statues were found underground, during excavation in the Vientiane
city.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Walking through the site we came upon a ‘Hang Hod’. Hanging from the ceiling. An explanation of a hang hod is as follows:
During important religious ceremonies and Lao New Year, worshippers pour
perfumed water through the hang hod, which flows onto heads of monks or Buddha
statues. Continuing our tour we entered
the President’s Palace area with neatly trimmed grounds and beautiful stupas.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our next stop was the Talat Sao Mall. It was similar to a Hong Kong mall of old
times. One area had cell phones, another
area had cameras, we walked by an area with just shoes, and of course
clothes. The mall was also referred to
as the Monday Market.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was then 12:30 so Song stopped for lunch at the ‘Khop
Chai Deu Restaurant Lounge Bar Where the World Meets’. It was a Sizzler style restaurant so I
ordered the Sizzler-Lao style steak. It
was delightful change after the Indian and Thai style food I had been eating. I topped it off with scoop of Honey and
Ginger Ice Cream.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After lunch we rode out of the city towards the end of the
freedom bridge across the Mekong River.
When we passed the entrance to the parkway to the bridge the road turned
to dirt and was very rough but Song wanted me to see the Xiengkuane Buddha
Park. It was developed as a major tourism
site. The Wat Xiengkuane temple inside
the park was erected in 1958 by the venerable Bounlua. A very large reclining Buddha was included. At one end was a dome shaped structure that
represented hell and at the river end of the park was a tower that represented
heaven. In between there were so many
different figures and structures I lost count.
It was mind blowing that someone would design and construct so many
different items in the last sixty years.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After the visit to the park we started back to the
city. Along the way we passed a mansion
under construction. Song told me it was
being built by the contractor that built the Freedom Bridge. He made a lot of money on the
construction. Song delivered me back to
my hotel at 15:30. He gave me money for
dinner since he lived a far distance away and the restaurant was walking
distance from my hotel. We stopped at
the Spirit House restaurant and made a reservation for 18:30.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When I got to my room I felt overheated. I shed my clothes to cool off and planned to
work on y journal but decided to lie down.
At 18:15 I arose, got dressed and walked along the sea wall area through
sidewalk restaurants to the Spirit House.
There I ordered Vietnamese spring rolls and Thai satay. When the food arrived I had lost my
appetite. I picked at the food but
requested the bill and left without taking the food to go.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Back in the room I was shivering and my first thought was I
had suffered sun stroke. I quickly went
to bed at 19:30. My flight to Bangkok
was not scheduled until 18:30 the next day but the hotel required that I vacate
my room by noon.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Monday, May, 12, 2014: </b> Fly Vientiane, Laos to Bangkok, Thailand<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I had a very bad night.
I had to get up several times to go to the bathroom and found each time
I was soaking wet. I suffered
hallucinations and nightmares that I was going to miss my flight home. At 09:00 I got up and shower and went to
breakfast just before they closed at 10:00.
I was able to eat some cereal, fruit, toast and tea. Back in my room I finished packing, set my
alarm for noon and went back to sleep.
At noon I vacated the room and proceeded to the front desk to check
out. The clerk wanted to charge me for
the room and I told him my guide would pay him when he picked me up at 15:00 to
take me to the airport. The original
schedule had me touring the area on my own.
I had decided I would use the time to work on my journal. Both options went out the window and instead
I sat in a chair and went to sleep. The
staff woke me at 15:00 to tell me I had a phone call. Song was on the line and informed me that he
was having trouble with his motorbike and the driver would pick me up and
deliver me to the airport. I told him about
the hotel bill and turned the phone over to a desk clerk. The driver soon arrived and it turned out my
hotel was not that far from the airport.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Song met me at the airport and he helped me check in. I went to the departure area and waited for
the flight. It was an ATR 72-500. It left on time and they served a nice box
meal of tuna sandwich and an interesting coconut cupcake for dessert. I was reading the English language newspaper
when my seatmate pointed to an article about Veena, a talented singer. She told me that she was her
half-sister. Veena is a former Miss Lao
New Year in 2008 and was just releasing her first album. As we approached landing my seatmate removed
all her rings and other jewelry telling me she was concerned wearing it in
downtown Bangkok because of the uprising against the government that was taking
place.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At the Bangkok airport the processing was a little faster
and more efficient than the last time I had arrived. The bus didn’t drive all over the airport
like the last time and I encountered no line at Immigration and the baggage
carousel was close to where I exited from Immigration. The exit from customs was close to the exit
where the Novotel bus parked. As a
result it didn’t take me long to get to the hotel and as I walked in one of the
staff told me to follow him to the Business Center for a personalized check in. I was still very tired and liked sitting
while someone did the check in for me but then when they finished they told I
had to stay in the Business Center because members of the Royal Family had
entered the hotel and the Secret Service and a soldier outside the Business
Center would not let anybody leave the room.
I was so rundown I dozed off in my seat for I don’t know how long but
finally a the young lady that had checked me in woke me and told me I could go
to my room. Back out in the lobby I was
led to the baggage storage room to identify my stored bag. They then led me to my room. For the second time I was assigned a room as
far from the lobby elevator as one could possibly be. I walked slowly to the room and the Bellman
was there waiting for me to open the door.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I quickly opened my big bag and setup my CPAP machine, shed
my clothes, put on my puffy coat, took my pills, set my alarm and crawled into
bed about 22:00. I knew I was running a
fever but there was nothing I could do about it except shiver.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Tuesday, May, 13, 2014: </b>Fly Bangkok, Thailand to Los
Angeles via Narita, Japan<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I had another weird night with hallucinations, nightmares
and bed sweats. I got up to the alarm at
04:00. Showered, packed and called for a
Bellman. I didn’t have any energy. I thought my fever had broken during the
night but I was still shivering so I wore my puffy jacket over my travel vest.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Novotel bus delivered me to the ANA/United terminal
entrance. I slowly found the Star
Alliance Gold check in lane and no one was in it so my check in was quick. From there I slowly passed through
Immigration and Security and started to look for the Star Alliance Lounge. I didn’t see the signs so I proceeded to the
gate, processed though security again and sat down and dozed until the flight
was called. As a Star Alliance Gold member
I was one of the first to board the coach section of the aircraft. I found the seat very roomy. ANA must also have a similar configuration as
United’s Economy Plus seating. I was
assigned to an inside aisle with an empty seat next to me. I can’t remember if a meal was served because
I slept the whole almost six hour flight.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I was really dragging when I left the aircraft and walking
very slow. One of the nice young airline
staff members looked at me and asked if I needed a wheel chair. I thought it would help so she summoned one
and I had them wheel me to the Star Alliance Lounge where they parked me in a
sort of isolation room. I was too tired
to set up my laptop but I was able to call Judy on Vonage and tell her about my
condition. When it was getting close to
boarding time an attendant arrived and wheeled me to the gate where I passed
through security and I was wheeled onto the plane before even the First Class
passengers. Again I had an inside aisle seat in Economy Plus. The plane was the same (I check tail numbers)
B-787-8 that I had flown over on. When
we took off I noticed that people were having trouble with the window
shading. A bright ray of sunlight was
beamed on my TV screen and bouncing back in my face from about three rows
behind. I got up to ask the person at
the window to darken the window. It
turned out it was an Indian woman sleeping.
She didn’t understand English and her daughter had to reach over from
her aisle set and hold the button to darken the window. After returning to my seat and not having the
light in my face I fell asleep and slept for over nine hours.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When we landed in LA I stayed on the plane until everyone
had left. I then had the flight
attendant get my carry on down and I slowly made my way to the exit where a
wheel chair attendant was just arriving.
The attendant had a little trouble getting me to Immigration because he
needed special access to an elevator. I didn’t
mind the wait and I breezed through the Global Entry check point. My bags were just coming around on the
carousel and I quickly exited the baggage claim area. My car service driver called to inform me
that the parking garage at the International Terminal was closed, he wasn’t
aware that I had arrived at United’s terminal 6. I informed him about my location and he
arrived in a short time. I thanked and
tipped the wheel chair attendant and slowly walked across the street to the
parking garage and the limo.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My long trip was over.
I had visited ten Asian countries in 43 days. Four for the first time and that completed my
visits to all the UN countries in Asia.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Post Scrip<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
I arrived home before 11:00 and contacted my doctor. They were able to get me an appointment with
another doctor who diagnosed my problem as a recurrence of an infection I had
been treated for in February. He
prescribed antibiotics which had cured it before. I knew it would take two to three weeks for
my system to get back to normal and I would be ready for my last trip scheduled
in June to visit Kiribati and Samoa, the last two UN countries I hadn’t
visited. I should complete my goal of
visiting every country in the UN by mid-June 2014.<o:p></o:p></div>
Edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03034021752003929779noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2230692068076603436.post-70112408055347766372014-07-08T20:16:00.002-07:002014-07-08T20:16:46.123-07:00Myanmar Tour Journal – May 2014<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Overview:</b> <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My Myanmar tour was scheduled with Advantage Travel &
Tours, Poway, California to complete my visits to all the countries in
Asia. The trip was a post-tour to a
month long tour of Sri Lank, Maldives, India and Bangladesh. Through Bangladesh I was traveling with a
group but for Myanmar I went solo.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The journal starts with my leaving Bangladesh.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Friday, May, 02, 2014: </b>Fly Kula Lumpur, Malaysia to
Yangon, Myanmar and tour Yangon<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My flight to Kula Lumpur on Malaysian Airlines was
uneventful. I had expected their
aircraft and service to be better than what I experienced. It was a ‘red eye’ flight departing Dhaka,
Bangladesh at 01:00 and arriving at 06:30.
I had over three hours before my flight to Yangon. I expected a better airport in Kula Lumpur
but found a seat near the gate to nap.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The flight to Yangon was also on Malaysia Airlines and also
was uneventful, departing Kula Lumpur just a few minutes late and arriving in
Yangon ten minutes early. They served a
boxed lunch on the flight which was a tuna sandwich – more of a western meal
than an Asian meal. When I arrived there
was a queue for ‘Visa on Arrival’ and one for Foreigners’ with visa. I was the only one in the later queue and
passed into baggage pick up before the bags were delivered.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Once I got my bag and exited the Customs area I was met by a
pleasant looking man with my name on a sign.
He introduced himself as ‘Sing’ and we wheeled my bags to a Toyota sedan
driven by ‘Win’. Sing and Win were a
very jovial pair.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As we left the airport parking lot we were greeted by a
large sign saying: “Welcome to Myanmar - The Golden Land”. The boulevard leaving the airport was six
lanes wide with tall palm trees on both sides and all the cars were driving in
their lanes. It actually reminded me of
driving in Newport Beach from the freeway to the mall. I did notice that for the first time in a
month I was riding in a vehicle that was on the right side of the road although
the car’s steering wheel was also on the right side. Win told me almost all the automobiles in
Myanmar were used Japanese vehicles. I
noticed the taxis were almost all Toyota station wagons. Often when they discharged a large number of
customers the rear hatch would open and out would pile a group of young men.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The traffic stopped at red lights, they indicated their
turns with blinkers and turned in an orderly fashion (So unlike India and
Bangladesh). I thought I was in Orange
County until I got closer to the city center and then the traffic started to
bog down but still stayed in their lanes and few used their horns.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our first stop was in the city at the Travel Agency. It took us about forty five minutes to get
there from the airport. Because of the
banking sanctions imposed on Myanmar Advantage Travel was not able to pay the local
travel agency (One Stop Travel & Tours) through normal channels and Cathy
had given me the money to pass to Kyaw Khaing, the General Manager. One Stop Travel’s office was on the third
floor of a building in the Sanchaung Township area of Yangon. Our first stop was at their office and when I
had climbed the three flights of stairs they asked me to remove my shoes at the
door.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I handed Kyaw the envelope from Advantage Travel and in
return he handed me the airline tickets for my flights within Myanmar and the
itinerary and hotel list. We discussed
an issue I had with another Yangon travel agency that had a website called: www.myanmarvisa.com. I had sent them money several months back to
obtain a visa thinking they were an official agency. They had responded at first that they would
provide a visa on arrival but at my trip departure approached they had not sent
the form so at the last week I had to get a visa from the Washington DC
Embassy. They told me over the phone
they would refund my money when I arrived.
Kyaw knew them and called them.
They had the money ready.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We left One Stop Travel’s offices and rode over to
Myanmarvisa’s office. It was also on the
third floor in a similar building but they let me keep my shoes on as they
processed the paperwork to provide me the money.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
With the administrative items completed we rode to my
assigned hotel. All my paperwork had
identifed the hotel as the Traders Hotel but Win drove me up to the entrance of
the hotel the sign read: Sule Shangri-La
Hotel. It was by then 13:40 and I
checked in and got ready for an afternoon tour of the city. I had a quick lunch in the hotel coffee shop
and then met Sing for the tour.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The city was impressive compared to those of similar size in
India and Bangladesh. It was clean and
neat with orderly traffic. Our first
stop was the local market at the ferry landing.
For the first time in a month I saw very large grapes and learned that
Myanmar has a wine industry.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One of the things I noticed right away was the women and
even children had a dash of a yellow make-up on their cheeks and some on their
arms. Sing told me that it was called Thanaka
cream. It’s a yellowish-white cosmetic
paste made from ground bark. He said it had
been used by Burmese women for over 2000 years.
It had a fragrant scent somewhat similar to sandalwood. The creamy paste was applied to the face in
attractive designs, the most common form being a circular patch on each cheek,
sometimes made stripy with the fingers, or patterned in the shape of a leaf,
often highlighting the bridge of the nose with it at the same time. Thanaka cream provided a cooling sensation
and provided protection from sunburn.
Some women think it helps to remove acne and promote smooth skin.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
From the ferry land we rode to Chauk-Htat-Kyi, the reclining
Buddha image, 216 feet long and 58 feet high.
Unlike so many other reclining Buddha images I have seen the skin on
this one was white porcelain looking and just the robe was gold.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>There
were a hundred eight distinguishing marks on both soles of the Buhhda. They represent the three worlds, 59
indicating the inanimate world (Okasaloka) 21 indicating the animate world
(Sattaloka) and 28 indicating the world of the conditioned (Sankharaloka).<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When we left the reclining Buddha we rode around the city
and stopped at “The Lady’s House”. Sing
and Win did not mention Aung San Suu Kyi by name. They refer to her as “The Lady” and did talk
about how the country needs to change its constitution to allow for a female
leader. Her house had a high wall around
it and an opening with small bars in the otherwise solid gate. She was the chairperson of the opposition
National League for Democracy (NLD) which won 59% of the national votes and 81%
of the seats in Parliament but a military coup placed her under house arrest in
Rangoon under martial law that allows for detention without charge or trial for
three years.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At 17:00 we visited the main attraction in the country, the
Shwedagon Pagoda. Sing had deliberately
delayed our visit in order for the floor of the pagoda would be cooler since I
had to take my shoes off to ender. It is
a very large complex. Sing led me on a
counter clockwise path around main stupa.
He pointed out the eight stations where people were washing. They represent each day of the week with
Wednesday divided into AM and PM station.
People pray at the station that represents the day of the week they were
born. Sing looked up my day (Monday) in
a book that many of the vendors around the stupa had.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The complex was so large that there were four pagodas in the
complex: the Shwedagon; the Naungdawgyi; the Htidaw; and a replica of Shwedagon
Pagoda in gold. In addition there are 16
Buddha Images.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As we circled the main pagoda we ran into a big family
celebration for a young boy who is entering the Monk novice program. Young Buddhists serve a period around the age
of ten as a novice. Many serve again
near the age of 20. A few then go on to
the life of a Monk. The celebration we
witnessed had a lot of picture taking with what looked like a professional
photographer and parading the novice on the shoulders of his father. The women in the family were dressed
beautifully and posed many times. They
even included me in some of their pictures with the novice.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As the sun set we left the complex. It had been a fun experience. Next stop was the hotel, dinner and retire
early since I had an early wake up in the morning.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Saturday, May, 03, 2014: </b>Fly Yangon, Myanmar, to
Bagan, Myanmar, and tour Bagan<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was a strange night.
It was my first night without a roommate for over a week. I set my alarm for 03:00 on my smartphone but
it had not auto changed to Burmese time and it rang at 02:00. I reset the phone time and the alarm and
slept for another hour. I was obsessing
again about my bags being overweight and had piled all the contents on the bed
with an area for those things I needed to take and those things I could store
for a week at the hotel. I was able to
reduce the big bag from 25.5kg (56lbs) to less than 40lbs. Their published limit was 20kg (44lbs). To do that I ended up with three small bags
two of which I tied together.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I carried the three bags down to the lobby and delivered
them of storage to the Bellman. Then I
returned to my room and wheeled my big bag and carry-on down to the lobby and
checked out. They handed me a breakfast
to go which had a muffin, fruit, two boiled eggs, a tuna sandwich, yogurt and a
croissant with butter and jam. To drink
they included a cardboard container of orange juice.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Win was waiting out front to drive me to the airport. It took about forty minutes to arrive at the
Domestic Terminal. It was packed with
people and luggage. My bags were
screened at the entrance and then I was faced with finding the correct check in
counter. Myanmar had eight small
airlines. I was flying Air Mandalay, but
in addition they have:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">
</div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Air Myanmar</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Golden Myanmar Airlines</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Asian Wings Airways</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Air KBZ</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Air Bagan</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Yangon Airways Limited</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Myanma Airways</span></li>
</ul>
<!--[if !supportLists]--><o:p></o:p><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I found Air Mandalay to be at the end of the check in counters. My bag was not weighed and I was issued a
boarding pass with the luggage tag stapled to it. The baggage handler affixed a sticker on my
vest. I then wheeled my carry on to the
opposite end of the room. Each check in
counter had longs lines of people. It
was unbelievable how everybody was checked in. At Security I didn’t have to take my laptop
out and they wouldn’t let me put my vest which contained my cell phone, camera
and other things to trigger an alarm in a bin.
I of course set off alarms when I walked through the x-ray and they
wanded me down setting off a buzz on the wand as he passed over the pockets
with the cell phone, camera and other things.
The Security agent felt the lumps and passed me on. What a fiasco!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
They did confiscate my water but my hotel breakfast box
passed through. The waiting room was
packed and I found a seat next to a trash can and started to eat my
breakfast. In just a short time women
came by to empty the trash. The waiting
room was full of people eating their boxed breakfast. Since so many flights leave early in the day
I guess all the hotels provide boxed breakfasts’. All the flights used buses to carry their
passengers to the planes. The load
speaker muffled the announcements so I had no idea when to board a bus. When I finished my breakfast I went to the
toilet and on my return I saw a man with an Air Mandalay sign and he saw the
sticker on my vest and directed me to a line.
I recognized some of the passengers that had checked in after me so I
figured I was in the right line and at the door they took half my boarding
pass.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The aircraft was an ATR-42 and I had reduced the items in my
carry on to fit in the ATR overhead. I
was surprised that it wouldn’t fit on the aircraft. The overhead was not shaped like other ATRs I
had flown on. The alternate in the pass
was to store the bag in the tail by the galley but the Flight Attendant
insisted that I put it under the seat. I
was assigned the window seat and it wouldn’t fit. The young lady sitting on the aisle offered
to move to the window and store my bag under the aisle seat. It fit and I put my day bag in the
overhead. I thanked the lady and struck
up a conversation. She was from the UK
but living in Singapore and was traveling to Myanmar with her parents on
vacation. Her husband works for
Accenture and they had previously worked in Beijing.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When we landed at Bagan we were bussed to the terminal and
waited for our bags to be hand delivered from the aircraft. Outside the Arrivals Hall there was a man
with a sign with my name on it. I
introduced myself. His name was U Bo Ni,
a retired English teacher. His English
was not a clear as Spring’s but I generally understood him. The driver was named Myo Myo and he drove a
Toyota Sedan. Before we left the
terminal all Foreign Visitors have to pay an entrance fee of US$15 per person
for five day visit to the Bagan Archaeological zone. U Bo Ni paid my fee and we loaded up the
Toyota and they drove me to The Hotel @ Tharabar Gate and checked me in.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The hotel had weak Wi-Fi, my room was large with a well-appointed
bathroom. The rooms were grouped in
buildings set in a grove of palm trees.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I changed into sandals and hung up my vest and returned to
the lobby to tour. First I tried to call
Judy. It took nine times before I found a
place in the lobby where the Wi-Fi signal was strong enough to enable Judy to
catch every word I said. When we
completed the conversation I joined U Bo Ni and Myo Myo to start the tour of
Bagan.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
U Bo Ni handed me a map of the area described the city as follows:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>Bagan
(formerly Pagan) is an ancient city located in the Mandalay Region of Burma
(Myanmar). From the 9th to 13th
centuries, the city was the capital of the Kingdom of Pagan, the first kingdom
to unify the regions that would later constitute modern Myanmar. During the kingdom's height between the 11th
and 13th centuries, over 10,000 Buddhist temples, pagodas and monasteries were
constructed in the Bagan plains alone, of which the remains of over 2200 temples
and pagodas still survive to the present day.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>The
Bagan Archaeological Zone is a main draw for the country's nascent tourism
industry. It is seen by many as equal in
attraction to Angkor Wat in Cambodia.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>The
religion of Bagan was fluid, syncretic and by later standards, unorthodox. It
was largely a continuation of religious trends in the Pyu era where Theravada
Buddhism co-existed with Mahayana Buddhism, Tantric Buddhism, various Hindu
(Saivite, and Vaishana) schools as well as native animist (nat) traditions.
While the royal patronage of Theravada Buddhism since the mid-11th century had
enabled the Buddhist school to gradually gain primacy, other traditions
continued to thrive throughout the Pagan period to degrees later unseen.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>Bagan,
is located in an active earthquake zone, and has suffered from many earthquakes
over the ages, with over 400 recorded earthquakes between 1904 and 1975. The last major earthquake came on 8 July 1975,
reaching 8 MM in Bagan. The quake
damaged many temples, but 2,229 temples and pagodas remain.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We started out at 09:20 and the first stop was the Tharabar
Gate which was once the main gate to the walled city of Bagan. We rode by the Golden Palace and stopped at
Thatbyinnyu Phaya, and climbed to the top where I had a commanding view of the
whole area. The climb was interesting
since I had to remove my sandals and climb dirty bricks in the hot sun. A couple of the Netherlands were just
descending when we arrived and recommended that I take water up with me to cool
my feet. I found that it wasn’t as hot
as my pool deck in California so I ignored their advice and climbed just behind
U Bo Ni. His secret was to circle at the
first level to the shade side of the Stupa and climb the stairs on that
side. When we reached the top I found
vendors up there selling pictures. I was
surprised because when we started the climb on the sunny side it appeared we
would be the only ones on the structure.
There was also a German up there with a miniature drone with a camera
and he was controlling it taking pictures of the area and a young lady next to
him was receiving the pictures on her iPad.
The drone went out of control and they disappeared around the structure
to recover it. Another tourist up there
was from Lebanon and we briefly chatted.
I asked him if they still use a lot of Dutch Boy Paint in the Hezbollah area like I saw advertised
when I was there in 2009. He said they
did and I told him about my father designing the logo and how they were owned
by National Lead and had sort of disappeared from the US market. He remarked that now Hezbollah is trying to
poison them with lead paint.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We climbed down and I was surprised that my bare feet
survived without pain. The next stop was
the Sula Ma Ni which was restored by a couple from the Netherlands. No pictures allowed of their
restoration. From there we rode to Shwe
Zi Con Pagoda the most magnificent gold pagoda in the complex. It had many buildings associated with
it. One displayed the native animist
(nat) figures. Walking back to where we
had entered I passed a bench with three Styrofoam containers of food. U Bo Ni explained to me that at noon the food
is placed on the bench for the Buddha.
Young boys or the birds eventually eat the food and as he was explaining
this to me a young boy came up and took a roll from one of the containers and
strolled off eating it.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our next stop was the Htilo Minlo Temple. We walked inside and viewed many gold Buddha images
in various positions. Very
beautiful! We then rode past an old
Monastery and then it’s new replacement and stopped at a handicraft store. I didn’t see anything worth purchasing so we
rode on to the Queen Restaurant where we stopped for lunch.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was a great lunch, a nice cold Myanmar Beer and a tuna
salad made like I would have made it at home.
At the next table was a couple that ordered Pizza which looked good and
next to them a talkative Taiwanese. He
told us he frequently travels to the area.
I think he was in the Import/Export business.<o:p></o:p></div>
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After lunch I returned to my hotel to rest out of the midday
sun and start up again at 16:30 when the floors of the pagoda’s and temple’s
will be more tolerable on bare feet.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Our first afternoon visit was to the Nanpaya Temple a Hindu
temple. It was not only unusual that it
was a Hindu temple but it was built using mud mortar, stone, and brick that
differed from the pagodas and temples common to Bagan. It was very dark inside but on the walls and
columns I could see carvings of Brahma, and other Hindu gods. U Bo Ni pointed out that there were also many
figures and symbols of the Mon within the temple.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We next stopped at the Mya Thit Sar lacquer ware handicraft
work shop. There I was given a demonstration
on the manufacturer of lacquer and lacquer ware. I was not aware the long time and detail
carving that went into the production of large items of lacquer. It made me more appreciative of the lacquer
boxes I was given by my Vietnamese Air Force colleagues. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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From the work shop we rode to Ananda Phaya, one of the
largest and best preserved temples in Bagan. It had a long entryway with vendors on both
sides. The main temple was square with
an enterance in each of the cardinal directions. There were two corridors, one for the common
folk and one closer to the center area for Monks. Facing each entrance was a giant Buddha carved
from teak wood and coated in bronze. We
walked the corridor from one Buddha to the next. One was under renovation and covered with
bamboo scaffolding. The giant Buddha
images had a unique face that provided a different expression depending on the
viewer’s distance from the image. I
can’t exactly describe it but it was startling how the expression changed as I
moved back from a close view under the image.
It appeared to move from a frown to a happy face.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Outside in a separate building we visited the Shwe Chaw Tha
Phaya which housed the Crowned Buddha image and two smaller images. As we left the area we got caught up in the
herding of cows and goats wandering home for the evening. They appeared to be very thin. The terrain in the area lacked grass. It was very dry and dusty. We then visited the Dhammayan Gyi Temple
which was the largest although not as well preserved temples in Bagan. It is massive in size and similar in layout
to the Ananda Phaya. U Bo Ni led me
around the perimeter of the temple which I found very hard on my bear
feet. Walking inside the ancient
structures was bad enough but to some extent the floors were swept but walking
outside was brutal since the floors were uneven and filled with grit and not
swept.. U Bo Ni wanted to show me the details of the buildings construction
which had unusually large bricks linked together without mortar. Thin glue was used to fasten the bricks
together. It must have been a heck of a
project to construct such a large building in that fashion.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Our last stop was the Shwe San Taw Paya which was the most
famous as the place in Bagan to watch the sunset. It was located on a hill and the name means
the Golden Hair Relics. The sign stated:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>The
pagoda contains a series of five terraces, topped with a cylindrical stupa,
which has a bejeweled umbrella. One
significant fact of the pagoda is the existence of the two umbrellas at the top
of the pagoda and that made the pagoda unique.
It was 127ft high and stood on a platform making it 290ft high from the
base. Enshrined within the pagoda were
four strands of sacred hair as well as eight other relies of Gautama Buddha.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There were great 360 degree views and with five levels to
stand on it did not get overly crowded.
The steps were very steep and narrow making the climb and the decent
very tricky. There were busloads of
tourists and from below I thought we were making a mistake to climb up but we
found areas we could easily maneuver around.
The downside was the haze and low clouds blocked the sun set. I was able to descend without any trouble and
can say I was there and I experienced it although I didn’t get any good sunset
photos.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I returned to the hotel and ate their Chinese Set
Dinner. It wasn’t what I expected and
would not recommend it. When I finished
the lady that sat next to me on the flight from Yangon and her parents were
sitting behind me and invited me to join them for a drink. They were going to eat at a restaurant next
door to the hotel and I endorsed their plan.
The parents were professors at Oxford and take their annual vacations to
the exotic locations their daughter lives near.
It was an enjoyable conversation and a departure from the conversations
I had been having with my traveling companions for the previous month.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I had another early wake up so I retired without writing in
my journal.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Sunday, May, 04, 2014: </b>Fly Bagan, Myanmar, to
Mandalay, Myanmar and tour Mandalay<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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I woke to my alarm at 04:00, showered, shaved and packed for
an early morning flight to Mandalay, Myanmar.
The restaurant was just setting up for breakfast and I was able to grab
a quick tea, banana bread, and apple before hotel check out. I was also able to call Judy on Vonage before
boarding the car to the airport at 06:15.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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There was a lot of activity by locals on the road as they
were transporting goods to the market and going to work. We followed one unbelievably overloaded truck
with at least 15 people, a dozen sacks and half dozen baskets. Every few minutes the truck would stop to let
someone off or to pick up another passenger.
The trucks in Bagan differed from the trucks in Yangoon. In Bagan they were actually Chinese farm
tractors with homemade cabs and cargo beds.
The truck we were following had a roof over the bed and it must have had
strong construction since the half dozen baskets and as many young men were
riding on it. The Chinese tractor engine
is forward of the wheels and had no hood or other covering.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At the airport U Bo Ni handled the check in. I had a sticker with the airline identifier
attached to my shirt. Each of the eight
Myanmar airlines had a counter at the airport and it appeared they all had
flights scheduled to depart near the same time.
I bid U Bo Ni farewell. He had
been a good guide although his “English” accented English was difficult for me
to understand at times.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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I sat in the waiting area which was full, waiting for my
flight. They called the flights in
Burmese but an agent holding a sign with the airline logo and flight number on
it would walk through the area when a flight was called. My flight was on another ATR, actually a
continuation of the flight I had taken from Yangon the day before.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The crowd in the waiting room was mostly going to Yangon so
after two flights left for Yangon the room thinned out and there were just two
flights to Mandalay to board. My flight
was called I started to the door wheeling my carry on when I realized I didn’t have my day back pack, as
I turned to go back to retrieve it a guide for a Japanese group picked it up
and handed it to me. I thanked him and
walked across the ramp to the plane. It
was open seating and I sat in the rear.
My carry on had no trouble fitting in the overhead. I concluded that the overheads in the middle
of the ATR aircraft where the wing passes over the fuselage must be slightly
smaller than forward and aft of the wing.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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The flight departed ten minutes early and took only 25
minutes landing at 08:10 fifteen minutes early.
The Mandalay airport terminal was a lot larger than the one at Bagan. Outside the Baggage Hall I spotted a tall
thin man with my name on a sign. He
introduced himself as ‘Zaw’ in a British accent which meant I didn’t really
understand him because of his pronunciation of ‘z’. He also was feminine in his mannerisms,
movements and speech which with the British accent made it difficult for
me. We wheeled my bags to a Toyota Hiace
Super Custom Limited 6 passenger Van.
The driver went by the name ‘Se Thu’.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Zaw started the drive by giving me a description of Mandalay
as the second-largest city and the last royal capital of Burma. He said it was located 445 miles north of
Yangon on the east bank of the Irrawaddy River, with a population of 953,000
and over a million in the region. He
explained that it was the economic hub of Upper Burma and considered the center
of Burmese culture.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The city was founded as the location of the royal capital at
the foot of Mandalay Hill to fulfill a prophecy on the founding of a Buddhist
city at the base of Mandalay Hill. He
moved the capital from Amarapura south of the current city.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Amarapura was the first destination on the morning
tour. I was surprised as we left the
airport to enter a concrete dual lane highway.
Zaw explained it was a toll road expressway that links Mandalay to
Yangon. I was impressed at first and
then discovered that either the road sunk after the concrete was poured or they
had a poor design because every culvert and bridge was slightly higher than the
road leading up to it creating a series of speed bumps.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Another thing I noticed was the temperature was cooler than
the previous day. Zaw explained that a
thunder storm had rolled through the night before and just as he was telling me
that we passed a billboard destroyed by the storm.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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We turned off the expressway to enter a dual highway with
trees and gully between toward Amarapura.
On the more rural road we encountered more local traffic, Tuk Tuks,
motor bikes, bicycles (2 and 3 wheelers) and cattle, only a few cars, vans, no
city busses and a few tourist buses. The
city buses were pickup truck with cover and open sides and no tail gate. I also saw a number of horse drawn
carriages. Whereas in Bagan they seemed
to cater to the tourists in Amarapura they were used more by the locals than
tourists.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When we arrived in Amarapura we stopped near the Pagoda at
the end of the 1.2 km U Bein Bridge, believed to be the oldest and longest
teakwood bridge in the world. It was
constructed in 1850 to cross Taungthaman Lake and links Amarapura to a Monk
Monastery on the other side of the lake.
Zaw and I walked across the bridge.
The lake was low and in the dry marsh areas fisherman has erected shacks
and several restaurants had been established.
Some of the land was being farmed with cattle, sheep and goats grazing. When we crossed over the water area we saw
fisherman trolling the lake and a flock of ducks. A long boat ferries people across the lake
that didn’t want to walk the bridge. On
the bridge there were a number of covered areas, some with stairs down to the
marsh. In the covered areas vendors were
selling various items including dried fish, craps, and an interesting item:
jewelry and hand bags made from watermelon seeds. Several of the restaurants had sugar cane
presses producing a sugar water drink that was then sold by the vendors on the
bridge.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I noticed that there were areas where the teak wood was
deteriorating and concrete structures had been installed. Zaw pointed out a high level mark on one of
the covered areas and told me the lake floods during the rainy season and on
several years it has risen higher than the bridge.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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After strolling to the other end we turned around and walked
back to Amarapura and the van. A five
minutes away we stopped at a weaving center where they demonstrated the
intricate art of weaving and displayed their products for me to buy. I guess this was Zaw’s test to see if I was a
shopper.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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He then led me to the Mahamlini Pagoda where at the entrance
I observed a group of artisans engraving on plaques and then filling the
engraving with a fine string of beads. A
few feet away was a young lady applying gold leaf on a plaque. It was fascinating to watch how quickly she
applied each leaf. The hallway leading
into the pagoda was lined on both sides with vendors selling gold plaques,
Buddha and Nat images. In the center of
the pagoda was a large sitting Buddha image that Monks were applying gold leaf
on. We walked around the pagoda and came
upon a room with three large bronze figures.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A brief history of the large bronze figures states:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>The
Large Bronze Figures were brought to Myanmar from Thailand by King Baylnaung
Kyaw Htin Nawra Hta I, 1563 A.D. when he gained a victory over the enemy in
Thailand.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>From
the historical records of world’s researchers, we learn that these Bronze
Figures were originally the great Angkor Wat Buddhist Temple in Cambodia. After the downfall and destruction of
Hanthawady (Myanmar) in 1598 when the Thai King Byan aril attacked Tougoo in
1599, The Rakhine king fought from the Myanmar side. In that war, the Thai king was defeated. As a result of this, these large Bronze Figures
were regained. As he owed a debt of
graditude to the Rakhine king, the king of Tourgoo presented the Rakhine king
with various treasures including the large Bronze Figures. In 1784, during the reign of King Bodawphaya,
the Crown Prince brought back the great Mahn Muni Image on his victorious march
from Dinyawady in Ranhine. Along with
the Maha Muni Image, the prince also brought back to Myanmar kingdom those
Bronze Figures as spoils of war. That is
why we see them here today. The Large
Bronze are:<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><i>(A)<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal;"> </span></i><!--[endif]--><i>The Elephant Statue which has three heads
named “Ayeyarwan” in Myanmar.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><i>(B)<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal;"> </span></i><!--[endif]--><i>Lion Statue which is called “Rargaslha”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><i>(C)<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal;"> </span></i><!--[endif]--><i>The Man Bronze Statue which has eight feet
high and the other Man Statue seven feet high.
These figures are called “DevanaT” statues in Myanmar.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>People
believe that when anyone who suffer from the pain and disease and if the one
prays and brushes the Figures with the related parts, the pain and disease will
leave.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We left the pagoda and rode into the center of the city and
stopped at the Gold Leaf Workshop where I was given a demonstration on the
production of gold leaf. They start with
a gold nugget and cut it into six pieces.
Next they increase the size of each piece by beating it for 30 minutes,
then beat it again for 30 minutes, and then beat it again for 5 hours. In addition to the beating of the gold,
special bamboo paper is developed and the gold leaf is affixed to the bamboo in
small square packets.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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At 11:25 we stopped for lunch at the ‘Unique Myanmar
Restaurant’ where I had bottle of Myanmar beer and their set menu as follows:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l4 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
</div>
<ul>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">1.</span><span style="font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">
</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Tofu Cracker appetizer with soy sauce in a dish
with garlic and small green chili peppers pieces</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">2.</span><span style="font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">
</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Myanmar Tangy Soup with Fish</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">3.</span><span style="font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">
</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Tomatoes Salad (green tomatoes)</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">4.</span><span style="font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">
</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Pork Curry</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">5.</span><span style="font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">
</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Potatoes with Bamboo Shoots</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">6.</span><span style="font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">
</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Stir Fried Mixed Vegetables</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">7.</span><span style="font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">
</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Steamed Rice</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">8.</span><span style="font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">
</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Fried Banana with Honey</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">9.</span><span style="font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">
</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Tea</span></li>
</ul>
<o:p></o:p><br />
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<span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><br /></span></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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It was a delicious meal, a lot for lunch but I found each
item to my liking. Following lunch we
finally arrived at the Mandalay Hill Resort Hotel where I checked in to rest
until we started to tour again at 15:30.
It was a modern hotel and my room was large but I had to use an
extension cord from the hall to get power to the head of the bed for my CPAP
machine. I had a beautiful view of
Mandalay Hill from my window. I was able
to set up my laptop and try to catch up on my journal. Every day in Myanmar had been busy visiting a
lot of different sites. Especially,
Began, and even though they built in a couple hours siesta each day it was
difficult to document every site.<br /><o:p></o:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
<br /><br />
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<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At 15:30 I met Zaw in the lobby and we rode a short distance
to the entrance of the Mandalay Royal Palace.
The palace grounds are surrounded by a high wall and a moat. It was still an active Army garrison and we
had to get a special pass to cross a draw bridge and enter the compound. Inside the walls we passed Army quarters and
stores and then arrived at the actual palace.
It was a very large building with white marble stairs leading to the Mye
Nan Audience Hall which had both a left and a right room.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>Conferences
held in the hall were attended by those of sufficient rank followers of Sawbwagyi,
Chiefs of the highest of five cleases of government servants, Thai prince,
persons of wealth and members of five classes of government servants, as well
as a class of governors and magistrates in charge of Mon, Shan and Yodaya
(Thai) towns.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We walked through the halls to the ‘Great Audience Hall’.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>Situated
at the west end of the connecting passage was the great spire with a
seven-tiered roof called the Mye-Nan Pyathat.
In the center of the building stood the great Lion Throne which was
supported by sculptured statues of Lions.
It was wholly made of Yamanay wood.
Of all the thrones in the eight throne rooms, it was the largest, the
highest and the grandest.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>The
name Mye Nan was derived from the fact that the platform on which the throne
was situated was built on a mound of soils collected from great Buddhist cities
of India such as Varanasi, Vesali and Sarvasti.
On MyanmarNew Year and the beginning and the end of Buddhist lent, the
King and Queen would receive their subjects and accept their offerings with
great pomp and ceremony in the hall.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sitting on the throne were models of King Mindon and Chief
Queen Satkyardavi. The Queen was sitting
to the Kings right side. She should have
been sitting on the King’s left but Zaw told me that King Mindon was having
affairs with sisters. He married one and
had her sister sit on his right. His
wife was furious and left him with her sister.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
From the throne we left the main palace and entered a
building containing the Hall of Victory.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>It
was a gilded building. Its shape was
taken from the Zaydawun Monastery of Lord Buddha. The building was called the Zaydawun Saung
because conferences and consultations on important matters were usually held in
the room with a view to overcome the various dangers and threats to the
kingdom.</i> <i>A cula type throne supported by carving of “Hamsa” bird with an
octagonal seat and known as the Hamsa Throne stood in the front part of the
building. In addition to diplomatic
meetings, was also used for supplication of religious matters to the
clergy. Since the building was
originally constructed as a replica of Lord Buddha’s Monastery, at Sarvasti,
the shrines and images, worshipped and venerated by successive kings were also
enshrined in the building. In two
smaller rooms on each side of the back part of the building were kept religious
manuscripts and the king would often rest and read in the rooms.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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We walked by the Treasury building. It was built with an inner room on a raised
floor and strong inner walls. At one
time it stored priceless gems and gold implements. And then we came upon the Central Palace
which was located in the center of the ‘Palace City’.<o:p></o:p></div>
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One of the “Palace City’ buildings had been set up as a
museum. We toured the museum which
contained models of kings, queens, princes, generals and ministers in their
formal dress. It was very
impressive. Leaving the museum we
crossed the ‘City’ and exited the palace.
We then rode outside the walls and across the moat to Shwe Nandaw Kyaung
(Golden Palace Monastery). The building
was originally part of the palace complex of Amarapura and was shifted to
Mandalay to become the royal apartment of King Mindon. It was in the building that King Mindon
died. After his death his heir King
Thibaw had the building dismantled and with the materials from the building
built the monastery. The monastery is
famous because it was the only palace building that survived World War II
destruction of the Royal Palace. The
building had elaborate carvings on the interior and exterior. The ceiling was covered with gold leaf. The pillars inside the main room were covered
with gold leaf with figures attached.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Across the road from the complex was the gate to State
Pariyatti Sasana University Mandalay where Zaw attended and took his English
training. One word that I had great
difficulty understanding was his pronunciation of palace. As many of the sites we visited were
associated with the Royal Palace I never understood where he was taking me
until I arrived and saw a sign for the site.<o:p></o:p></div>
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From the Gold Palace Monastery we rode to the Kuthodaw
Pagoda. It was built by King Mindon
similar to the Shwezigon Pagoda in Bagan and is 188 feet high. It is known for containing the world’s
largest book which is the text from the ‘Pitaka’, the entire Pali Canon of
Theravada Buddhism. The text was
inscribed on both sides of marble slabs attached to 729 small stupa’s called
‘Kyauksa Gu’. Each one is white and
neatly laid out in rows as you enter the covered corridor to the pagoda. They were arranged in neat rows within three
enclosures, 42 in the first, 168 in the middle and 519 in the third. One more
stands at the southeast corner of the first enclosure making it 730, and that
stone record how it all came into being.
Thirty four rest houses are in the area where you can often see families
having a picnic.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Between the rows of stone-inscription stupas grow mature star
flower trees that emanate a jasmine-like fragrance to the entire complex. We passed one tree believed to be 250 years
old, its low spreading boughs propped up by supports. The walk up the corridor was breath taking as
with the beauty starting with the massive carved teak wood doors and the neat
rows of the ‘Kyauksa Gus’. The floor was
shinny marble and very clean. At the end
of the corridor there was a Plexiglas enclosed model of the Kyauksa Gu layout
with a guide to where to find the chapters of the Pitaka.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Within the pagoda there were several beautiful Buddha
images, all in the sitting position. One
was all gold plated while the others had the beautiful white porcelain faces
often found on Buddha images.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The sun was starting to set so we left the pagoda and rode
up Mandalay Hill. It was a winding, hair
pin curved road. At the top we entered a
building to take a series of escalators to the Su Taung Pyai Pagoda on the very
top of the hill. It was a beautiful
pagoda with glass mirror mosaics, a large terrace area with commanding views of
the city below. I could see my hotel and
the Royal Palace very clearly. Two
ex-classmates of Zaw’s were up there and peppered me with questions about my
travels. Zaw was talking with another
guide when he was told that a tourist had lost $1,000. The guides were shocked because thefts rarely
happen in Buddha areas and especially in pagodas. As the story developed it turned out it wasn’t
money but rather an art work purchased for $1,000 in a package he laid down as
he took pictures of the scenery. The
theft was reported to a Security Guard and the guides were relieved when the
Security Guide reported that someone had turned the package into a Security
Post.<o:p></o:p></div>
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As I was taking pictures, a Thai couple next to me was
taking pictures of each other trying to catch the setting sun in the
background. I offered to take a picture
of both of them and afterwards we engaged in conversation. He was the Governor of a state in
Thailand. I didn’t ask him about the
uprisings that were taking place in Bangkok.<o:p></o:p></div>
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My luck changed and the usual low row of clouds on the
horizon preventing me from getting a good picture of the sunset was not present. I was able to take pictures until the sun
disappeared over the far off mountain range.
Happy seeing the sun set, the crowd started to exit. Zaw told me the escalator reverses direction
every night at 17:30 so we were able to take it down rather than walk the 1,700
steps to the parking lot. The parking
lot was full of pickup truck busses.
Each truck sat 8 to 10 people on side benches and as many as they could
cram into the middle.<o:p></o:p></div>
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My tour of Mandalay was over and Zaw dropped me at the
hotel. I ate a sandwich for dinner and
retired early without writing in my journal.
I had another early morning wake up.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Monday, May, 05, 2014: </b>Fly Mandalay, Myanmar to Heho,
Myanmar and tour Nyaungshwe, Myanmar<o:p></o:p></div>
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I arose at 04:30 to shower and pack. At 06:00 I had a quick breakfast and called
Judy on Vonage. Se Thu, my driver was
already waiting and as soon as I hung up from Judy we left the hotel to go to
the airport.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The ride through the city provided some interesting sights
of the people going to work. The pickup
trucks that served as buses were overloaded with people and goods. The motorbikes were also overloaded with
goods and in some cases three or four people from what looked like a family loaded
on a motorbike. I was impressed by the
clean streets when I arrived in the country and noticed that women were
sweeping the streets in the early morning.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Part of the drive to the airport was on the toll road to
Yangon. I had been impressed when I
first encountered it the day before but as we were riding in silence I noticed
that the culverts and bridges were higher than the roadway so either the ground
had sunk or it was poor construction.
The result was every culvert or bridge we rode over was like encountering
a speed bump. We reached the airport a
few minutes after 07:00.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Check in was quick.
The flight had open seating and my bags were not weighed. Security was also quick and I sat in an air
conditioned gate area. All the many
airlines in Myanmar seem to have similar schedules and depart ten to twenty
minutes from each other. When I checked
in they affixed a sticker on my shirt which identified my airline and
destination. Flights are called by an
agent holding up a sign with the airline, flight number and destination.<o:p></o:p></div>
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When my flight was called I got up and grabbed my carry on
and started to the gate without my day pack.
A guide from a Japanese group reminded me that it was still at my
seat. I retrieved the bag and thanked
him. I had seen him on my previous
flights and at previous sites. On the
aircraft he sat next to me. His name was
Thein Tun and he was licensed to perform English and Japanese tours. We had a nice chat on the short flight to
Heho.<o:p></o:p></div>
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We arrived at 09:00 and I was met by a young lady who took
my ticket for the next day and confirmed my flight. She then led me out of the building and
handed me over to Bolo who would be my tour guide in the Inle Lake area.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Bolo started out by giving me the following background on
the area. I would be staying in a resort
that backed up to Inle Lake and we would access the resort by long boat. The lake was the second largest in Myanmar
and is relatively shallow with an average depth of 7 feet. The brochure he gave me stated the following:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>Although
the lake is not large, it contains a number of endemic species. Over twenty
species of snails and nine species of fish are found nowhere else in the world.
Some of these, like the silver-blue scaleless Sawbwa barb, the crossbanded
dwarf danio, and the Lake Inle danio, are of minor commercial importance for
the aquarium trade. It hosts
approximately 20,000 brown and black head migratory seagulls in November,
December and January.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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The largest city in the area was Nyaung Shwa about an hour’s
drive from the airport. It was the
tourist hub for visiting Inle Lake and served as the marina for the numerous
long boats that carry tourists into the lake.
One day a week was market day and Bolo told me I was lucky that I
arrived on that day. We rode along a shady
tree lined divided roadway dodging cattle and bicyclist until we entered the
town which was not very big. It had a
wide main street with taxi cabs lined neatly on one side. They were Tuk Tuks with extended beds in the
back with side benches. We used to call
them ‘Bhat busses’ when I visited Bangkok in the 1970s. Past the taxis was a long row of motorbikes
and motor cycles neatly parked facing the sidewalk at an angle. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Bolo had is get off the bus by the market. It was atypical market and I got a kick out
of one stand that was selling Red Delicious apples with a 4015 USA sticker on
them. I guess Red Delicious apples are
one thing that was not grown in Myanmar.
One thing that was a little different was the fish that was for sale
were still alive.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Exiting the market I watched as the customer’s loaded their
purchases onto various vehicles. The
trishaw bicycles were a tricky one since the side car faced in both
directions. The puzzle was to secure the
goods in the front seat where the cyclist could watch them but the passenger
had to sit in the rear facing seat or vice versa. There seemed to be not consistency among the
customer’s using trishaws. I saw it both
ways. The motor bikes also had different
loadings. Some placed the package in
front of the driver others placed the package between the driver and the
passenger. After watching that going on
for a few minutes the traffic had a break and we were able to cross the street
and board our van. We rode up a side
street and I noticed the local variation of the farm truck differed from
Mandalay and Bagan. In this area many of
the trucks with the same Chinese engines as the other cities had no cabs but
still had a steering wheel. In China
they drive the tractors with the same engine using long handle bars like a
rototiller.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The side street ended at a canal with a row of long boats
tied perpendicular to the canal wall.
They had no fixed seats but rather small folding deck chairs with
cushions. Bolo pointed to one that had a
sign affixed on the bow for One Stop Travel and Tours. The boat Captain maneuvered the boat to a
dock where my bags were loaded and I got in and sat in the chair at mid ship.<o:p></o:p></div>
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We then started cruising down the canal encountering other
boats of tourists traveling in both directions.
Some of the boats were carrying cargo and traveling at a higher speed
causing a plume of water in their rear.
The water was mud colored and yet we saw woman and men washing clothes
and young boys swimming in it. When we
left the town area with the concrete walls along the canal we entered a wider
channel with houses on stills on both sides of the channel for a short distance
and then there was just high grass on either side of the channel. We turned up a side channel and stopped at a
dock to board the ‘river pilot’ to paddle us to the resort. We had to shut off the noisy engine and the
‘river pilot’ paddled us using one leg wrapped around the oar like the
fisherman did on the lake. It was an
amazing feat of balance and leg strength as he was balanced on the side of the
boat. On top of that he wore flip flops
the whole time. I was very impressed.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The resort was very picturesque with a-frame buildings and
cabins. I had t walk a bit past a lily
covered pond to the registration building and then a rather long walk from
there to my cabin on the edge of the cove.
The cabin bedroom was very large and it had a porch. The bathroom was in three sections with an
outdoor shower, an indoor shower and tub and then the area with the toilet and
sinks. Once my bags were delivered and I
found an electrical outlet for my CPAP machine, I returned to the dock to start
a tour of the lake.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The lake had a lot of floating clumps of grass and a lot of
fisherman. The water surface was smooth
as glass except when motorized longboats went by. It was tranquil looking with the many
fishermen quietly dropping or retrieving their nets while slowly paddling with
one leg. The balance on a foot square
platform on the very bow of the boat and make it look so easy and graceful as
they work their nets.<o:p></o:p></div>
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We had been cruising the lake for about forty minutes when
it started to rain. Bolo handed me an
umbrella. It was pink with pictures of
Justin Bieber on it. I didn’t pay too
much attention to the pictures as I was still trying to take pictures of the
scenery that we passed. The rain squall
passed quickly and we docked for lunch at the Golden Kite. It was renowned for its Italian food. I was given a tour of the kitchen with a
stone fire oven, pasta making machine and a row of ingredients from Italy. I met the chef who told me that he had been
schooled in Italy and that an Italian woman had set up the operation at the
Golden Kite and send him authentic Italian spices and pasta ingredients. Of course I had to order a Margarita
pizza. It was delicious. My Japanese guide friend from the flight was
there with his clients and came over to say hello and have his picture taken with
me.<o:p></o:p></div>
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At 13:50 we started out to cruise the lake again and a rain
squall passed through again but we stopped in ten minutes at the Ko Than Hlaing
Silk and Lotus Weaving factory. I knew about silk production and weaving but it
was the first time I had seen lotus tread produced. It was amazing to see this woman cut the
lotus stem just enough to pull the two pieces apart and roll the fine tread
between the two into a string than could be used in weaving. I was taken on a tour of the facility including
the dye area and then we left to cruise a few minutes to the Sae Khaung –
Blacksmith shop. There they demonstrated
how they take metal like automobile springs and forge them into knives and farm
implements.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Our next stop was the Nampan boat builders. I found it fascinating how the fashioned a
boat out of teakwood and caulk it with a black lacquer mix. I noticed the platform on the bow of the
fishing boats had a coating of a sand like surface which I guess helps the
fisherman to keep his footing in wet weather.
One of the boats in the shop was built to hold 100 paddlers. It was used in races between the villages.<o:p></o:p></div>
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From the boat builder we cruised to the cigar making &
fishing net factory. The young lady
making the cigars by hand was amazing at how quickly she made each one. Compared to the production I witnessed in
Cuba it was impressive. The cigar shop
also sold Myanmar wine. Bolo then
demonstrated fishing net production.<o:p></o:p></div>
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After the demonstration we boarded the boat and cruised to
the Phaung Daw Dp Paya pagoda. The
channel in front of the pagoda was nicely stoned with a dock to off load
visitors. The pagoda complex had a large
plaza. It was an unusual pagoda because
it didn’t have a large Buddha image. The
central altar of the pagoda had five medium size lumps of gold. The lumps were at one time were wood images
of Buddha. Over the hundreds of years
gold leaf covered the images to the extent that the details of Buddha likeness
had disappeared. Every year the images
are carried in a barge around the lake.
In 1965 the boat overturned spilling the images in the lake. Four of the images were immediately recovered
but the fifth one could not be found.
When the four images were returned to the pagoda the fifth one was found
on the altar. The unexplained miracle
had made the five images special.<o:p></o:p></div>
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We walked around the pagoda seeing women embroider blouses
with beads. Bolo then took me over to a
shed that contained the barge that was used in the annual parade of the
images. It was impressive with a lot of
gold leaf and the bow had a large duck head.
We then left the five story pagoda and boarded our boat.<o:p></o:p></div>
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From Phaung Daw Dp Paya we cruised through floating gardens
one of the areas the people it the area are proud of. I saw rows of tomatoes. They even had a man in a boat spraying the
plants against insects. Past the
floating garden we stopped at the Nga Phe Monastery. It was known as the ‘Jumping Cat Monastery’
because monks had trained cats to jump through hoops. Unfortunately they were not performing when
we arrived. We did walk around the
monastery and saw its several sitting Buddha images. It was our last site to visit for the day and
we started the cruise back to the resort.
On the glassy surface water it was a pleasant ride.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I took some pictures of some beautiful cloud formations and
then a fierce storm hit. It was sudden
and the wind increased creating foot high white capped waves. The boat started to rock and the boat Captain
become concerned, actually I learned later he was scared, and beached the boat
on an island of floating grass. The
Captain climbed up to the bow and crawled into a small space to shelter himself
from the fierce rain and wind. I had the
pink umbrella and I had to hold it tight to try to protect me from the driving
rain. It was then with nothing else to
see I stared at the umbrella with its dozens of pictures of Justin Bieber. For over thirty minutes I sat there staring
at the pictures wondering when the wind and rain would let up. Finley Bolo convinced the Captain to return
to the helm and start the engine and back away from the grass island and
continue to the resort.<o:p></o:p></div>
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By the time we reached the ‘river pilots’ house the rain had
stopped and the lake surface was as smooth as glass again. It had been an hour since the rain
started. I was soaking wet and when I
reached my cabin I emptied my pockets and shed my clothes in the outdoor
shower. I washed all the clothes and
myself, rung the clothes out and hung them up to dry.<o:p></o:p></div>
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At 19:00 I walked to the restaurant wearing my bathing suit
and a t-shirt. The dining room was just
opening and I was the first patron. I
ordered a tuna sandwich and tried to finish before the resort guests, many
dressed like they were on a cruise ship arrived. A few did arrive just as I was leaving. It had been one heck of an experience.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Returning to my room I spread the contents of my pockets and
wallet on the counter and hoped they would dry overnight. I was too exhausted to write in my journal
and went to bed early.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Tuesday, May, 06, 2014: </b>Tour Indein, Myanmar and then
fly Heho, Myanmar to Yangon<o:p></o:p></div>
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I woke before my alarm and took a shower and packed. Most of my items dried and I used the hair
dryer to finish things that were still a little damp. Breakfast started at 06:30 but there were
only a couple of people eating when I arrived.
They served a set meal on the outside deck facing the lake. I noticed they had cute little metal figures
on the deck railing. I was particularly
impressed with a figure of two boys playing rattan ball (similar to volley ball
but the players have to use their feet to kick the ball over the net). It was clever with the net and the ball. Other figures included dancers and fishermen
and fisherwomen.<o:p></o:p></div>
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After breakfast I checked out paying for the dinner the
night before. Bolo showed up at 08:30
and we departed to cross the lake to the village of Indein. It took over an hour to cross the lake and
navigate canals to reach the village. We
left the boat and walked to the village.
Along the way we walked past a Nursery School. It was fun to see the little kids playing
just like kids do all over the world.
They had a swing set and a see saw plus some other play things in their
yard. The village has no government
provided electricity and homes have to use solar power or generators. Just as Bolo was telling me about the electricity
I passed a young girl talking on a cell phone and then a barbershop with music
playing so I think the village has plenty of electric generators. There was also a satellite TV antenna on a
number of buildings.<o:p></o:p></div>
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We walked among cows and their version of Chinese engine
trucks to the Shwe Inn Dain Pagoda.
Along the way we passed a day care center with pre-school kids playing
on a homemade swing set. I guess kids
love to swing in any country. We first
entered the Nyaung Oak Monastery, a rather run down wooden building. Outside the Monastery we walked among small
ancient stupas, many with trees growing through them, similar to the Angkor Wat
area in Cambodia. We then entered a very
long covered walkway designed for festival processions now, lined with vendors
until we reached the entrance to the Shwe Inn Dain Pagoda.<o:p></o:p></div>
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A brief history of the pagoda was posted near the entrance
to the walkway.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>The
pagoda lies near the Inn Dain Khome village which is on the western back of
Inlay Lake, Nyaung Shwe Township in Shan State.
According to the stone inscription, it is known that a small original
stupa donated by King Siri Dhamma Sawka (273-232 BC) was encased in the present
pagoda.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i>There
is one brick stairway on each side on the western part. The eastern stairway in the longest one (200’
x 12.5’) owing to the successive renovation.
The groups of stupas exist in the entrance of the eastern stairway. According to the inventory of monuments in
1999, it is listed altogether (1054) pagodas.
The different types of traditional architectural designs, art and craft
work created between 14<sup>th</sup> century AD and 18<sup>th</sup> century AD
can be seen in these pagodas. Moreover,
the mural paintings can be studied in two temples.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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Near the entrance we walked among the stupas. There is a moratorium on Buddhist building
new stupas so instead they can refurbish an existing stupa to achieve the same
result of eternal life. So among the
1054 stupas were many that had been refurbished. The individual that refurbishes the stupa
places a plaque at the base of the stupa with their name.<o:p></o:p></div>
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We had to take our shoes off to enter the pagoda and I found
it a little funny that inside the building there was a motorcycle parked. I guess you can ride in but can’t walk in
with shoes on. Anyway the pagoda contain
several very beautiful sitting gold Buddha images, a standing gold Buddha image
and a gold duck image. Close to the
pagoda entrance were many of the finely refurbished stupas. One area had two rows of a dozen similarly
designed stupas with fresh gold paint.
It was very impressive.<o:p></o:p></div>
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We left the pagoda and walked back down the long walkway and
turned to take a path through the woods to the Indein Weir dam. Along the path we past woman selling cloth
and some were just setting up their tables.
Several had their children with them.
A more permanent structure was under construction with concrete blocks
and teak wood beams.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Just past the dam we entered an area with several
restaurants and although it was only 10:45 Bolo said we should have lunch. There was a group of young girls their faces
brightly painted in different designs with Thanaka cream. They were very cute and wanted me to purchase
a colorful scarf.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The restaurant Bolo picked the local Golden Kite which was
owned by the same Italian restaurant we had eaten in the day before on the
lake. I had enjoyed the pizza the day
before so I ordered one again. It was
called the Tony Pizza (Tomato Sauce+Mozzarella+Pesto Sauce+Permesan Cheese). Again it was delicious. As we were eating 6 young boys were skinny
dipping in the channel and when we finished they helped maneuver out boat to a
dock where we could board. They real had
fun helping with the maneuvering.<o:p></o:p></div>
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We started out to cross the lake. About thirty minutes in our journey we
stopped at the Mya Hin Tha Special Fish Silver Smith Work Shop & Show Room. There I was given a demonstration on the fine
art of silver and their specialty of fashioning a silver fish that can be used
as ear rings, a pin or hung on a chain.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Next door we visited a long neck woman. Women of the Kayan Lahwi tribe are well known
for wearing neck rings, brass coils around their necks to appear to stretch
their necks when in fact the weight of the brass pushes the collar bone down
and compresses the rib cage. The neck
itself is not lengthened; the appearance of a stretched neck is created by the
deformation of the clavicle. There is no
known reason for the tradition which starts when the woman is five years
old. Some think it was started to make
the woman less desirable to concurring tribes others think it is a turn on for
the men in the Kayan Lahwi tribe. Anyway
it was interesting to see but felt painful.
The oldest woman was weaving but there were two young ladies selling
handicrafts wearing the brass coils.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our next stop was at the Shwe Thit Sar Umbrella, Shan Paper
Bamboo Hat Center. There I was given a
demonstration on the art of making paper from mulberry tree bark. The bark is pounded into wet mush and spread
on a screen where it is dried in the sun to form a sheet of paper. The paper is used in printing and in making
umbrellas and hats.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That was our last site to visit on the lake. We then cruised back through the floating
gardens and up the lake to Nyaung Shwe.
It took about an hour to cruise up the lake and we docked in the
township and transfer my luggage to the car for the ride to the airport.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Bolo had one more site for me to visit. It was the Shweyanpyay Monastery just outside
the township. That monastery had novices
reading the Buddha scripture. Most of the
other monasteries I had visited were void of monks or novices.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The drive to the airport was quicker than the ride from the
airport. It tooks us only forty five
minutes and I was handed off to the young lady that had greeted me on my
arrival. Bolo was not allowed to enter
the terminal. She checked me in and as I
waited for the plane to arrive I read a local English language paper the
reported a 5.6 magnitude earthquake had hit not far from the lake at the same time
we were caught in the violent storm. It
may have contributed to the high waves.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My flight to Yangon took off about twenty five minutes late
and had to land at Mandalay in route.
They made up the time at Mandalay and I arrived in Yangon close to the
scheduled time of 18:20. Win was there to
greet me and take me to the hotel.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I knew the room layout and was able to get good night’s
sleep.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Wednesday, May, 07, 2014: </b>Tour Yangon, Myanmar and
the fly Yangon, Myanmar to Bangkok, Thailand<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I woke at 05:30 and went to breakfast at 06:30. After breakfast I returned to my room and
packed. At 08:00 I met Sing in the lobby
to take me on a tour of Yangon.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The first stop on the tour was at the Ferry Terminal we had
visited on my arrival in Yangon only this time Sing purchased a ticket for us
to take the ferry across the bay to the Dala.
The ferry was packed and we sat upstairs. I was on the side between openings which
restricted my full view. Although the
ferry took less than twenty minutes it was full of vendors working the crowd to
sell all sorts of things. The food
vendors I could understand. But I
wondered in my mind why someone would buy a hat while taking a twenty minute
ferry ride but the hat vendor sold several just in my immediate area.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Fala Ferry Terminal area was a hustle bustle place with
a lot of taxis, shops and vendors. Sing
arranged for us to take a Trishaw around the area. The side seat was slightly narrow for my body
so they piled up pillows so I was sitting above the side rails. That also meant I was prone to slide off the
seat but I held on to prevent that from happening. I felt sorry for the poor young man named
Longyi having to pedal my weight. We
cycled around the streets of the area stopping at one point next to a water
pump and lily covered pond. Sing
explained that the area has no sweet water so the pond is a catchment for
rain. The water shortage is so acute
that the days and hours are restricted to use the pump. The people from the city donate water for the
Dala inhabitants. The homes we saw on
our ride were pretty run down. It was a
sharp contrast to the homes in the city and even in Bagan, Mandalay and Nyaung
Shwe. The main street was concrete and
the side streets was packed dirt. I saw
several very little kids with Thanaka cream on their cheeks. It was very interesting to see such young
kids with makeup.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When we returned to the Ferry Terminal the area had thinned
out but the ferry back to the city was just as crowded and the same vendors
were working the passengers and making sales.
We had only been on the island a little over an hour.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We found Win parked next to the terminal in the Yacht Club
parking lot next door. Our next stop was
the Bogyoke Mall also referred to as Scotts Market. It had existed for decades and was reminiscent
of many of the shopping centers to early Hong Kong. It had sections selling everything under the
sun. The first area we entered was
cameras and then electronics followed by watches. Next it was jewelry, gold and silver. We then entered the clothing area and finally
the food area. On our return to find the
van we encountered sidewalk vendors sell handicrafts.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our next stop was the National Museum. They didn’t allow photographs. The brochures describing the museum described
the museum as follows. It was a five
story building with 14 galleries divided into Culture and Historic
Periods. The Culture galleries included:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
</div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Burmese Epigraphy and Calligraphy</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Burmese Traditional Folk Art</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Burmese Performing Arts</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Burmese Art Gallery 1</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Burmese Art Gallery 2</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Buddha Images</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Ethnic Cultures</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><br /></span></li>
</ul>
<span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">The Historic galleries included:</span><br /><ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Natural History</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Prehistoric Period and Protohistoric Period</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Burmese Historic Period</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Royal Regalia</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Lion Throne</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Yadanabon Period</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Ancient Ornaments</span></li>
</ul>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
As interesting as it was it replicated in pictures and
models a lot of what I had seen in Bagan and Mandalay so my tour of the museum
didn’t take that long. It was then noon
and Sing stopped for lunch at the Khaing Khaing Kyaw Myanmar Restaurant. I wasn’t hungry and figured I would be served
a meal on my afternoon flight so I had just one of their fruit smoothies.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My visit to Myanmar came to an end. It had been a whirlwind tour with a lot of
memorable sites and experiences.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Check in at the airport for Thai Airlines was a breeze since
there was no one in the Star Alliance Gold line. Security and Passport Control had no lines
and I waited for my flight in the Star Alliance Lounge. IT had very weak Wi-Fi and I couldn’t connect
to Vonage to call Judy.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My flight was on an A-300-600 aircraft and took off just
fifteen minutes late. They served a very
interesting lunch of a shrimp salad with raisins and pieces of apple, coconut
cake, wine and a juice box. It took less
than two hours to fly to Bangkok. They
parked the aircraft on the edge of the ramp and we had to take a bus to the
International Arrivals terminal. The bus
ride took about ten minutes. It appeared
that we toured the whole airport complex before finally arriving at the
terminal.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I had to fill out an arrivals form. I don’t understand why the forms had not been
passed out on the plane, but the Immigration lines were short and then I had a
long walk to the other end of the Arrivals hall to the carousel with my
bag. Once I passed Customs the walk to
the exit where the Novotel bus parked was not long and I was soon in the hotel. When I arrived in my assigned room I had a
letter on my desk inviting me to an art show that was to take place in the
lobby.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I went down to attend the art show. It was a young French painter, Thribaud
Tchertchain that uses black spray paint to crate large impressionistic black on
white pictures of people on large (6x4ft) canvas. He had 17 paintings on display. He called the show “Blackwhite By
Tchertchian”. I met Thribaud and we had
a long conversation, first about my daughter Robin’s new job as Chief Auction
Officer, North America for Auctionata, then about my father’s history as an
artist and finally about my travel. I
also had long conversations with the Manager of the Art Gallery in the hotel
that sold the art on display. They had
an open bar and great finger food so I saved on not having to go to
dinner. It was an interesting diversion
from the thirty seven days I had been on the road.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When I returned to my room I was concerned about carrying
all my luggage to Laos so I went back down to the lobby stores and purchased a
small bag which I then filled with items I didn’t think I would need in Laos.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The hotel had good Wi-Fi for a fee but since I was a Novotel
Frequent Guest they provided 12 hours of free connect. There was assign on the desk apologizing for
charging and blamed it on the airport which they connect through to the
Internet.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I was able to call Judy and to pay my May bills online and
clean up some of my email backlog. I
retired at 22:00.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Myanmar had been a very interesting experience. There was so much to the country; I would
like to return to visit other areas. I
was then on to visit Laos.<o:p></o:p></div>
Edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03034021752003929779noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2230692068076603436.post-29679173283611827592014-07-06T20:42:00.000-07:002014-07-06T20:42:10.999-07:00Bangladesh Tour Journal – April 2014<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Overview:</b> <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My Bangladesh tour was scheduled with Advantage Travel &
Tours, Poway, California to complete my visits to all the countries in
Asia. The trip combined set tours by
Advantage Travel to Western India with a pre-tour to Sri Lanka and the Maldives
Islands and a post-tour to Bangladesh, Myanmar and Laos.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This journal documents the Bangladesh portion on the
tour. I was joined on this portion of
the tour by Del and Linda McCuen, Lynn Bishop, Mary Warren and Steve
Mathews. On this trip I roomed with
Steve Matthews from Orleans, Vermont.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The journal starts with our departure from Port Blair,
Andaman Islands, our last stop in India.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Saturday, April, 26, 2014: </b>Fly Port Blair, Andaman
Islands, India to Dhaka, Bangladesh via Kolkata, India<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was another rough night with a stuffed up head. My throat didn’t hurt as bad as the night
before but I coughed a lot more and didn’t sleep more than two hours at a time
and at 04:00 I finally took a shower and packed. The hotel staff set up an early breakfast for
us and we left for the airport at 06:30.
I had a bowl of Corn Flakes and black tea. The toaster burned my toast so I skipped the
toast.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At the airport we had to have our checked bag x-rayed before
we got checked in. Lynn’s and my bag
were selected for detailed search. They
were concerned about Lynn’s alarm clock batteries and wanted to see my
container of batteries. Once they saw
them they said they were OK and we proceeded to check-in. Only the Security Agent had forgotten to
affix the “OK Security” sticker on either of our bags when he said they were
OK. The Check-in Agent saw that we
didn’t have the sticker and we wheeled the bags back for the sticker. The Security Agent Supervisor would not allow
the sticker to be applied unless our bags went through x-ray again. I had visions of him wanting me to show the
batteries again. The line at x-ray was
very long but they put our bags on ahead of the line and didn’t ask to show the
batteries again and we were able to get our boarding passes and drop our bag at
the Check-in counter.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We were surprised when they told us they could not check our
bags or give us a boarding pass for the Kolkata to Dhaka, Bangladesh leg. We would have to claim our bags in Kolkata
and have it for the nine hours we would have between arriving in Kolkata and
leaving for Dhaka.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We had to fill out a departure form before going through
Immigration. It was more detailed than
most countries require and we were on a flight between two airports in the same
country. Immigration stamped the form
but I could not find any stamp in my passport.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We had to wait until one hour before flight departure to go
through the Gate Security. While I was
waiting I noticed they had a list of prohibited items on the wall. Again the prohibition on batteries stated
“Spillable Batteries”. When our flight
was called to pass through Security Steve and I arrived at the carry-on
Security Check Point about the same time.
My carry-on was pulled for secondary inspection as was his. They looked over mine first and when through
every pocket, nook and cranny on my carry-on.
Their excuse was the cables blurred the rest of the bags contents. Again they had no problem with my packs of
batteries. They spent a lot of time nit
picking the contents of my bag and yet passed every item. Steve had to wait for them to look at his
contents. They wanted to look at his
CPAP machine and didn’t understand its use.
Eventually they passed his bag.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The flight was less than two hours and a hot breakfast was
served. The “Non-Veg” meal was an egg
omelet with beans. I still was not
feeling that well so I skipped the omelet and beans and just ate the roll and
drank black tea.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When we landed and proceeded to claim our luggage, my bag
came off first so I went in search of the guide that was supposed to greet
us. We had a long layover in Kokata and
Cathy had arranged for us to have a day tour of the city. I saw a sign for William Bishop and met
Niraj. The rest of the group soon
followed and we loaded our bags in the back of a 12 seat van. Outside the terminal area we picked up
Suvendu, our Kolkata sightseeing guide.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Kolkata (formally, Calcutta) is one of the most densely
populated cities in the world. It was
the headquarters for the British East India Company that ruled South East Asia
before Queen Victoria became the Empress of India and made the area a colony of
the British Empire and designated Delhi as the capital.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The airport is on the outskirts of the city. They are building an elevated road to the
airport and the vast number of vehicles including man hauling rickshaws, two
and three wheel bicycles, motorbikes, Tuk Tuks, small cars, Ambassador cabs,
buses, trucks, large and small, mixed with the roaming cattle created a
slightly moving traffic jam like I have ever experienced. At least the traffic jams I encounter in Los
Angeles are mainly cars and trucks staying in their lanes, in Kolkata there
were no lane markings and just a wide mass of vehicles some bucking traffic in
the wrong direction. The sides of the
busses showed the scares of many scrapes and where a mass of bondo
patches. Tail light lens, despite metal
screen cages over the lights were non-existent.
The highway construction contributed to the problem.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There were policeman but they didn’t appear to really guide
the traffic in an efficient manner. They
appeared to only get involved when traffic came to a complete halt in all
directions and then they would try to untangle the mess.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Suvendu, was an excellent guide, the best I experienced in
India. His English was very
understandable and he had a wealth of knowledge about the city and the
buildings we visited or passed by.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Kolkata has a metropolitan area of approximately 15.7
million people with the central business core a astounding density of 95,000
people per square km. It was previously known is a city of glaring contrasts: a
curious blend of the old and the new, partly feudal, partly born out of growing
urbanization, partly undefinable, a medley of the east and the west. The graft of a European city imposed on the
Asian landscape gives Kolkata its bewildering charm, confusion and excitement. We passed many slums and then Colonial
buildings.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It has an electric trolley system using cars built in the
1920’s to be horse drawn. Each trolley
had two cars, the first car in the pair charges a First Class fare and the cars
have fans in them, the second car has a lower fee and no fans. The city also has a subway system with
beautiful mosaic pictures to identify the underground entrances.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our first stop was at the Kali Hindu Temple of Kalighat. There we saw long lines of people waiting for
free food distribution outside the temple grounds. Inside there were many people praying at
small alters. In one small building they
were sacrificing black goats. The poor
goat would be led in by its owner, blessed and then its head secured in a
guillotine and quickly decapitated. The
body would then be skinned and the meat cut up in an adjacent area.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We walked the area and saw many vendors selling religious
pictures and small items. Back on the
bus we rode to the restaurant area of the city where we had the choice of Pizza
Hut, Subway, KFC, local and continental restaurants. We choose the continental and Suvendu dropped
us off at the Mocambo Restaurant. I had
a nice cold Kingfisher beer and ordered the fish specially dish. It came in a casserole with the fish, peas
and carrots on a bed of mashed potatoes and a sauce over the top. For dessert they served a chocolate brownie
on top of vanilla ice cream. We were
happy campers!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We continued our tour of the city after lunch with a stop at
the magnificent Queen Victoria Memorial Hall.
Built of white marble it was then turned into a museum. No cameras were allowed in the museum which
was a shame.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Victoria Memorial Hall was opened in 1921. It displays pictures and statues of men who
played a prominent part in the history of India. Lord Curzon conceived it and it is the finest
and most prominent building and art museum in the city. The white Makrana marble used in its
construction is the same as used in the Taj Mahal.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The museum contains 25 galleries. We were issued English speaking headphones
that provided descriptions of the exhibits as we walked around. The major galleries were the royal gallery,
the national leaders’ gallery, the portrait gallery, central hall, the
sculpture gallery, the arms and armory gallery and the Calcutta gallery.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Leaving the museum I took pictures of the grounds and then
we continued on to Sister Teresa’s, Missionaries of Charity. There we toured the Mother House which
contains the coffin and the room Mother Teresa lived in during her years in
Culcutta from 1953.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
From there we continued our tour of the city passing by
British Colonial buildings and the large complex which housed the British East
India Company. We concluded our tour
with a visit to the Jain Parshwanath Temple.
It was a beautiful complex with many statues and decorative
buildings. The Jain religion is one of
the oldest religions in the world and is renowned for it adherence to not kill
anything including plants. So they don’t
eat carrots or potatoes but can eat tomatoes.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Suvendu, left us at this point and we were sorry to see him
go since we felt he was the best guide we had in India. We rode on to the airport and checked in for
our flight to Dhaka. I had the usually
tough time passing through Security. Our
flight departed almost an hour late.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We arrived in Dhaka at 21:25. At immigration we had to get a visa on
arrival. I was one of the first
passenger’s off the plane and the first of our group to reach the Immigration
area. There was a cashier window and a
sign that said visa on arrival would cost US$50. As I approached the window the cashier
directed me to a desk with some chairs across the room. There I handed my passport to the agent at
the desk with my letter of invitation and the form I had filled on the
aircraft. The agent motioned for me to
take a seat. I saw Steve arrive at the
cashier window and called out to him but the distance was too great for him to
hear me and he got redirected by the cashier anyway. The rest of the group then followed Steve and
I told them to stack their passports and paperwork on top of mine. The agent asked me if I was part of a group
and I told him yes, the six US passports.
He directed everyone to sit down and soon called my name and directed me
to the cashier. There I found I had to
pay $51 and received some change in Tk (Bangladesh Taka). With the receipt in hand I returned to the
agent and he took my passport and receipt and put it in another pile. When he had entered a ledger with the
information for everyone from our group he handed us our passport and
associated papers and directed us to the Immigration queue. There were long lines and Steve was trying to
judge which line would move the fastest when I saw at the end a sign over an
Immigration desk for Visa On Arrival. I
informed Steve and the rest of our group and we queued up at that desk. After all the previous processing we still did
not have a visa until the Immigration Agent stamped a small double postage size
stamp in our passport that said Visa on Arrival, Date of Arrival, Date of
Expiry. It took a lot of ledger entries
and some computer entries to get to that point.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The bags from our flight were still arriving on the
carousel. I was the first to get my bag
and wheeled a trolley out to find our guide.
I was waived past the x-ray machine and exited the Baggage Claim area to
find a long chrome fence with dozens of people with signs greeting passengers. I saw a sign for William Bishop and pointed
to the guide. He directed me to the end
of the fence which was a long way from the exit. I doubled back and met Mojaharul Islam, from
Tour Planners Ltd. He told me I could
call him Mojah or Mojo. I saw additional
members of our group exiting the Claim area and walking in the other
direction. Mojah ran to catch up to them
and a representative from the Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel had called out to
them and they had responded “yes”, that they were staying at the Pan Pacific
Sonargaon Hotel. When Mojah caught up to
the group with the William Bishop sign they turned to him and the Hotel Rep
then started to argue with Mojah that he was stealing his guests. It was silly and we went off with Mojah to
find our ride.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Two vehicles arrived and our luggage was stored in one and
the passengers in the other. Even late
evening traffic was slow and we didn’t get to our room until 23:00. The hotel had Wi-Fi in the lobby and I went
down and called Judy. I warned her that
she might not hear from me for a few days.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Sunday, April, 27, 2014: </b>Fly Dhaka to Chittagong,
Bangladesh, and drive to Bandarban, Bangladesh<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We had a short sleep since we had a 07:30 flight. The opened the restaurant early for us and
the ride to the airport was faster than the ride had been the night before. We were booked on United <b>Airways (BD)</b>. Not to be
confused with United <b>Airlines</b>. I checked my laptop carry-on since the flight
was scheduled on a DH-8. Mojah handled
the check-in and got each of us a boarding pass with no individual names on
them. Security wasn’t a problem and we
were bussed to the aircraft.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The flight took just forty minutes to Chittagong, south of
Dhaka. There we were met by Noor with a
Toyota HIACE Grand Cabin van. Mojah and
Noor plus the van would stay with us throughout our tour of southern
Bangladesh. We piled in the van with our
bags in the back and three rows of double seats or the right side and two
single seats on the left side aft of the door opening. I sat in the last row single seat and didn’t
have a good view of what was going on outside to the front and right side.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We crossed a long bridge with a harbor full of large sea
ships as far as we could see in both directions. We were leaving the metropolitan area of
Chittagong and heading to the countryside but first we came upon a very long
line of Green Tuk Tuks queued at a Gas Station.
We turned in to re fuel the van.
The Tuk Tuks and our van ran on natural gas. The scene reminded me the Amazing Race TV show
that I saw before I left the states where the contests had to refuel Tuk Tuks
with color plaques that matched their assigned color. The queue was even longer than the TV show
but the actual refueling was more orderly with the natural gas hose.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
We rode through countryside with fields of rice paddies,
truck farms, cattle, and villages with road side stands. At 13:00 we reached Bandarban Hill Tract -
home of the Bohmong Chief who is effectively king of the Mamma indigenous
people, and checked in to the Hotel Plaza Bandarban. The greeting sign stated:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Lift Service<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->24 Hour Power Generator with A/C Coverage<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Running Hot Water<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Safe & Secured Car Parking<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Multi-Cruis Restaurant<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When a hotel advertises those items you know you are in for
an experience!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our room had twin beds and we put a bedside table between
them where there was an electrical outlet.
There was one chair and a desk with no power outlet. No closet but there was a cabinet with
hangers. It had a ceiling fan and an air
conditioner. The sink was in the bedroom
and the bath had the shower in the center with no central drain, just a hole in
the corner behind the toilet. There was
a balcony overlooking a green pond with people washing clothes in three areas
and some swimming, bathing and brushing their teeth.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We had lunch at 13:30 which I didn’t find too
appealing. The hi-lite for me was a
drink made from a local fruit that was very delicious. After lunch I walked around the neighborhood
and took pictures. The hotel when viewed
from the town was a very impressive modern looking five story building. There was no Internet in the whole area
outside of Dhaka.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At 16:30 we went on tour.
Only Steve, Mary and I ventured out.
We rode through the center of Bandarban where the sculpture in the city
center round about is a fruit basket with a pineapple on top.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We rode for fifteen minutes through the country side where we
saw women in the pools in a rice field catching small fish with their bare
hands to the base of the Dhatu Jadi Temple (Golden Temple) which is the largest
Theravada Buddhist temple with the second largest Buddha statue in Bangladesh. There we had to walk up a steep road to a set
of 150 steps with no railing. There were
posts to support a railing every five steps but the rail was missing. Mary started up but bailed at the first
landing. Steve, Mojha and I continued
on. We had been warned in advance that
we had to wear long pants and take off our shoes for the last steps into the
temple area. When we reached the top
Steve decided to skip the last walk to the base of the temple. I had changed into my sandals and airline
socks so I shed the sandals and entered the walkway to a set of another 50
steps to the base of the temple. It was
impressive and had great views of the surrounding terrain.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The temple had four ornate entrances which were closed
except to monks, and four standing figures between five columns between each
entrance. Small sitting white Buddha on
gold thrones with different small white animal figures below them, ringed the
temple. On the back side were the
traditional bell and a small pagoda.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At the base of the steps a door marked exit led me into a
building with the exit hallway lined with displays of Buddha interacting with
people in different scenes. Very few
people were viewing the Gold Temple and the Buddha scenes. Mojah, Steve and I returned to the van where
Mary was waiting. We then rode back to
the city and stopped to tour the Central Bazar.
There we saw dried fish, Roti being made, vegetables for sale (I wasn’t
impressed with their tomatoes), clothes for sale with a tailor setup on the
sidewalk, and their custom made furniture.
The carving on headboards and cabinets was outstanding. We were back in the hotel by 17:00.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I setup my laptop on the end of the bed close to the wall
outlet by the door to the balcony. It
was a little awkward but I was able to do some journal entries.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Dinner was served at 19:30.
There were a lot of different dishes, rice, noodles, cooked tomatoes,
etc., again, very little appealed to me.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I return to my room and wrote in my journal until I retired
at 22:00.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Monday, April, 28,
2014:</b> Tour Bandarban area<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Yea! I finally got a
good night’s sleep! I slept soundly
until there was a power outage around 04:15 and the start of the backup
generator woke me and before I could immediately drop back to sleep the call to
Muslim prayer kept me awake for a few minutes but then I slept soundly until my
alarm woke me at 06:30.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Taking a shower was a challenge since there was a drain in
the corner of the bathroom and no shower curtain. Initially the water was hot but then turned tempid. It turned out we had turned off the hot
water heater switch when we went to bed and I forgot to check it when I started
my shower. Despite spraying everything
in the bathroom with water I successfully finished and even shaved.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Breakfast was at 07:30 and I had a piece of their roti bread,
an omelet, and black tea. We were
scheduled to depart on tour at 08:00 and I had to hurry to get my small
backpack with several bottles of water and other essentials from my room. In the rush I forgot my smartphone.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I was surprised to see the group entering the van. I guess our concerns over traveling in an un
air conditioned jeep changed Mojah’s mind.
Since I was the last in I ended up sitting on the back row on the
driver’s side which had a window that opened.
I liked that because I could take pictures out an open window.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We left the hotel and entered the main highway, turned south
for a short distance and stopped for Mojah to purchase cold bottles of
water. Ice was not available in the
city. They use electric coolers to cool
drinks but they don’t have ice machines to Mojah’s knowledge.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Starting up again we took the first road to the east up a
hill that turned into up and down hills with each hill getting higher in
elevation. The van was straining and the
air conditioner was not turned on. I
left my window open and Steve and Mary opened windows so we had a cross breeze
and the van didn’t get too uncomfortably hot.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At first we were driving in a heavy dry wooded area that
reminded me of parts of Topanga Canyon.
There were a number of empty road side stands. The higher we climbed the less dense was the
woods and soon we were in areas of banana trees and other plants. We could then view the mountains and valleys. There were many remotely located villages on
the ridges of the mountains. A lot of
the area had been burned and new planting started. We crossed many streams and gulleys on Army
Platoon style bridges.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We stopped to tour Mrolong village, one of the typical tribe
villages in the area. Mojah showed us
the interior of their one room huts, many with tin corrugated roofs, and some
with grass roofs. He also showed us a
chicken coup that was raised off the ground.
The homes were on stilts and the children were playing under the
homes. Overlooking the village was a
concrete school house. We were able to
see the class in session with two teachers.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As we were boarding our van to leave the village, a big
local bus passed by. Every seat was
taken and there were a number of young men on the roof with boxes of goods. We soon came upon a road working crew. They were filling pot holes with crushed
bricks and sand then topping it with tar and stones. They had a large roller to smooth the patch
out.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My stomach started to give me pain and I asked Mojah to stop
the van. We were at a place with a flat
area that dropped off to a steep slope.
I headed for the edge and determined I could drop my pants out of view
from the road a few feet down the slope.
The area had been burned and as I started down the slope my feet got
tangled in some tough vines and tripped me up.
I reached out to a bamboo shoot to stop my fall but it broke and I
tumbled out of site of the van. I think
Mojah panicked when he saw me disappear and ran over to the edge and reached
out with his hand. My right leg was still
tangled and I couldn’t break the vines so I had to let go of Mojah’s hand and
free my foot. He then slipped and slid
down the slope a few feet so Noor came to the rescue and pulled Mojah up and
then me. They told me to just go on the
flat area. It was a quick relief and I
had a roll of toilet paper and it was over in just a couple of minutes but must
have looked comical from the van of passengers.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The irony of the situation was we were not that far from the
Niligiri Resort on the top of Keokradong, the highest peak in the country at
4,035 ft. and our destination for the day.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Bangladesh had an Army Post on at the Resort and we had
to get permission to enter the area. We
parked at a vista point. The area was
dotted with concrete picnic tables and vista areas. I took off to explore the area and discovered
the building at the very top was a Cafeteria and that there was a helicopter
pad near the summit. The door to the
Cafeteria had the unit patch that stated in English: “Country Above All –
Committed and Involved”. On the north
side of the Cafeteria there was a concrete structure in the form of a map of
the Bandarban area and a ladder affixed to it.
I saw pictures of the structure in other places and the ladder was
included but I was unable to learn the significance of the ladder. The whole area was spotless and very well
maintained except there was no running water in the otherwise very clean
facilities.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Lynn and Mary had found a snack bar with cold drinks and I
joined them for a cold Coke. I returned
to the vista to inform the others of my findings and Del then took off to take
pictures of the area. I returned to the
snack bar and ordered another can of Coke but they were out so I settled for a
bottle of Sprite. Mojah had some
biscuits for each of us and they went well with the cold Sprite. I talked a little with the Snack Bar
attendant and he helped me wash some of the charcoal and dirt from the fall off
my hands and clothes. He told me he
though his assignment at the “Resort” was “good duty”. Mojah had heard otherwise from some of the
other solders. Of course running a snack
bar that didn’t have to make a profit for a few customers a day would be good
duty compared to those manning the guard posts.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There was a row of big black plastic water tanks and soon a
UN Water truck arrived to either off load or on load water. We left the area before I could find out
which one. Starting back down the
mountains we stopped at two tribe village complex of the Empu and Karang
villages.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We walked into the village and saw how dry the area
was. They had a large rain catchment
area that was full of dry muddy leaves.
Their corrugated tin roofs had gutters that lead into a water tank. The houses were similar to the Mrolong
village with in this case a children’s play house had been constructed under
the house on stilts. At one of the
houses a group of kids were sitting on steps observing us. An older school girl in blue and white uniform
got them to pose for us. Running around
the area was a family of pigs. One
managed to find some mud to wallow in.
Down a slight slope there was a group of older women washing
clothes. As we were leaving we passed a
house with a small window which two little kids were looking out to form a cute
picture.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We got on the van again and continued down the
mountain. There was an Army checkpoint
we had stopped at on the way up where they entered our names, ages and
signature in a big ledger. On the way
down we had to stop and sign that we had left the area.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At 12:30 we stopped at a road side stand and Mojha and Noor
prepared fresh Papaya for us. As we
continued down the mountain I smelled the brakes burning and we stopped at the
Bawm village for a brake check. Sure
enough both front brakes were glazed over and Noor had to jack the van up,
remove the wheels and the brake pads and rub the glaze off and put them back
on.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Bawm village was an interesting place for the van to
breakdown. It had a few stores selling
tourist items. There were several women spinning
yarn and a display of very colorful table clothes. Another store had wooden handicrafts. There was several shaded areas to sit and
across the road concrete picnic tables and a viewing area. The group of structures was bounded on both
sides by bridges.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Water flowed under the east bridge and a group of men and
women were filling water containers with the clear mountain water and lugging
them up the bank to a truck. Plastic
containers (the looked like white ‘Jerry Cans’) had numbers which I presume
identified the owner, while large blue containers were filled from metal
jugs Downstream from the operation
people were swimming and washing in the stream.
When the truck bed was full it departed and the people vacated the clear
water area and move down to the ‘swimming hole’ area.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At the end of the bridge to the west there was a sign
describing the Bawm people as follows:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>Bawms
are fond of hunting. Besides the traditional Jhum they grow orange, pineapple,
banana and papya. They also have their
own tradition in handicrafts and cottage industries. In Bandarban total Bawm population is 8228.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We had broken down at 13:00.
Noor was able to pull the wheels, fix the brakes and have us going again
in just forty five minutes. We were back
to our hotel by 14:15 and had a late lunch.
Lynn and Steve skipped the lunch.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After lunch I washed the charcoal and dirt out of my clothes
and wrote in my journal. We had dinner
scheduled for 18:00. Lynn was still
under the weather and he and Mary skipped dinner. It was too bad because they served fried
chicken, KFC style with French fries.
The best chicken I had on the trip to date because it was easy to
determine where the bones were.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I returned to the room, wrote more in my journal. There were a number of power outages. I wondered if their generator was low on fuel
because it would only stay on for a few minutes at a time and then
restart. Around 21:00 it appeared to
stabilize and I prepared for bed and retired at 21:30.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Tuesday, April, 29, 2014: </b>Drive Bandarban to Rangamati,
Bangladesh<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our alarms went off at 05:00 and we had meant to set them
for 05:30 so we both reset and slept another thirty minutes. It had been another very restful sound
sleep. I still had conjestion but I
didn’t wake with a coughing fit so I thought my cold was breaking up.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I showered but even though the hot water heater was on I
soon ran out of hot water and finished shaving from the bucket of hot water I
had filled before I started my shower.
We had three towels on the floor from the laundry drying the afternoon
before so the bathroom floor was not slick and I covered the toilet seat with
one of them. All in all it wasn’t a bad
shower.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
All my clothes including the socks had dried through the
night. I was all packed by 06:30 and
wheeled my bags to the elevator and down to the lobby. Breakfast was served at 07:00 an included an
omelet, toast with jelly and roti bread.
I made a tortilla with the roti and omelet. The toast with jelly went nice with my tea.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We departed at 07:30 on the route that took us past the Gold
Temple. The terrain was flat in areas
with crops and rice fields and hilly in other areas with burned ground, tall
straight trees with few leaves. When we
rode up hills Noor had to turn off the air conditioning but the weather wasn’t uncomfortably
hot. We drove through the village of
Bamgolhalia at about 09:00 then arrived at the Kornofuli River and had to take
a ferry across the river. When we
arrived the ferry was on the other side so we saw it depart and cross the
river. It was a large flat barge that
held several large trucks, a fully loaded bus with people on the roof, and
several smaller trucks. Many Tuk Tuks
and motorcycles were squeezed in between.
When it docked at our end the motorcycles and most of the Tuk Tuks scurried
off and up the ramp followed by the bicyclists and walking pedestrians. Next came the trucks, big and small and then
a three wheel bicycle with a flatbed holding a big plastic drum. It was slowly pushed up the ramp preventing
the bus from leaving the ferry.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Eventually the three wheel bicycle made it to the top of the
grade and the bus followed. They then
let the vehicles from our side drive on the ferry. We all walked on and rode across the river on
the deck. When the ferry docked at the
other side we boarded the van and were on our way. It only took thirty minutes from the time we
entered the village until we were on the other side.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We had to stop at a Police check post to register our
entrance into Rangamati District. A big
sign at the check post stated:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<i><u>FOREIGNERS CHECK POST<o:p></o:p></u></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: justify;">
<i>To enter into Rangamati District Foreigners
need to obtain permission from Ministry of Home Affairs. Foreigners to entry their name in the Check
Post while entering in and also going back from Rangamati District.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: justify;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
About thirty minutes after leaving the Check Post we entered
the BFIDC KAPTAI, Karnafully timber extraction unit and lumber processing
complex. Many logs were along the road
and in the areas close to the road. We
turned off the highway to a secondary road.
A sign at the turnoff pointed down the road to The Bangladesh Sweden
Polytechnic Institute. It was a large
campus with dormitory’s, classroom buildings and a sports complex.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We then started to climb small hills and leave the populated
area. Across a field I saw a grass roof
house with a large solar panel. Just
past the crest of the hill the Kaptai Lake came into view. It stretched as far as I could see. We stopped at a road side market and Mojah
bought us some bananas. They were the
small sweet kind. We were still in hilly
country and Noor had the air conditioning off to not strain the engine as we
climbed steep slopes. Soon we were down
at lake level and crossed a bridge. Below
we could see logs piled up waiting to be hauled to a mill. The houses alone the edges of the lake were
built on stilts. The lake level was very
low but I could see the high water marks.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We arrived at the Parjatan Holiday Complex about 11:00. The first building we saw was a large new
multi-story brick hotel with many rooms on each floor, all facing the lake with
a balcony. We rode past that building up
a slight grade to an older hotel with a Reception sign. Mojah registered us and we then rode back to
the new building and turned into the courtyard and past the new building and up
the hill to a group of concrete cottages.
Each cottage had three rooms. We
were assigned to the center room. Del
and Linda to our right had a view of the lake, we had a view of the woods and
Lynn and Mary had a view of the sidewalk leading to the cottage.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our room was fair sized with electrical outlets at the head
of each bed. There was one chair for
Steve to sit in when he was reading and a desk and chair with an outlet for me
to plug in my laptop and work on my journal.
The bathroom had a tub with a shower and a wand but no shower
curtain. There was only one towel and
Steve was able to get two more from an office two buildings away.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our bags were delivered to our room and we boarded the van
to drive back to the Registration building to eat lunch. The lunch was not to my liking. They had a salad but it had some hot peppers
mixed in, a fish dish and the rest were rice and noodles. I ordered a Sprite and picked at my food. The fish was good but I was concerned with
the little bones. I had a couple of cups
of black hot tea. Lynn skipped the meal
and Mary took a cold Sprite back for him.
We learned later there was no bottle opener in the room and Lynn had to
search the room to find a crack where he could lift off the bottle cap.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Back in the room I wrote in my journal until 16:30 when
Mojah called us to leave for a tour of the Buddha Dharma Sangha
“Deshanaloy”. The temple was about a
twenty minute drive from the hotel. The
gateway to the complex where we had to remove our shoes said <i>Rajbana Vihara.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When we entered we had to remove our shoes and it was a
large campus with numerous buildings. We
first climbed the stairs to a large room that contained a coffin of a monk that
the people still thought to be alive. A
number of people were praying at the coffin.
On each side facing us in the back of the room were monks, one of which
looked dead to me. He didn’t move the
whole time we were in the room. An
enlargement of the picture I took of him showed his eyes open but no movement
in his head. As we left the room we had
great views of the temples. Down on the
ground level we walked to the big temple and entered to view a child Buddha in
gold with rows of miniature Buddha below the child Buddha. Alongside the entrance to the altar an area
contained a pit with incense and candles burning.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Leaving the temple I walked across the yard to the open
sided building where 100 or so young monks were praying to the chant from a
load speaker. I couldn’t tell if a live
monk was doing the chanting or if it was a recording. We walked to another area and I saw two large
stones with a plaque that read “Homage to the Tripe Gem”. The plaque stated in English which was hard
to read because the black paint in the etched writing had washed out. From what I could make out the plaque stated:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>In
1984 Venemble Sadhanaanda Mahathera
(Banabnante) was staying at the Rajbana Vihara, Rangamati and following his
daily routine was giving a sermon to the lay devotees as usual. All of a sudden he asked Upendria Lal Chakma,
a lay devotee of Mitingyachati (Mitingya stream) village, under Jurachari Union
of Rangamati Hill District to search for two boulders upon which Moni Rishis
sat to meditate ages ago and they were lying in the bed of Mitingyachari
stream. It is most astonishing that
Venerable Banabhante had neither visited Juracharinor Mitingyachari previously.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>Upendra
Lal returned to Mitingyachari Village and began to search for the said boulders
but could not find them. On his return
to Rajbana Vihara he informed Venerable Banabhante about his failure to locate
the boulders. Venerable Banabhante told
him to return and search diligently for the boulders and he would find
them. On his second attempt he along
with a helper upturned the bed of the stream and finally found the boulders and
sure enough the boulders bore deep worn out marks of sitting in the Lotus
Position for meditation for very long periods.
On finding the boulders the news spread fast and about. 250 to 600 people of two mouzas took part in
bringing the boulders to Mitingyachari Village which were there for three
months before being brought to Rajbana Vihara.
During these three months many people visited the village to have a
glimpse at the boulders and offered prayers.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>By
seeing the where about of the boulders from Rajbana Vihara “Wisdom Eyes” is a
proof of Venemble Sadhanaanda Mahathera
(Banabnante) to be an “Enlightened One”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I saw the worn spots on two boulders behind the plaque. We then left the temple and rode into the
city. It was teaming with green Tuk
Tuks. We stopped at the edge of the city
at the end of a bridge where textile shops were lined up on both sides of the
road. They advertised “Traditional
Tribal Cloths and Handicrafts of Rangamati”.
Linda was the only one that purchased anything.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We returned to the hotel at 18:00, and had dinner. It was similar to lunch but instead of fish
they served beef chunks. Unfortunately
the beef was in a spicy sauce. For dessert
they had watermelon that was very good.
I had a Sprite to drink in addition to the water.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I returned to my room and wrote in my journal until 21:40
and retired at 22:00.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Wednesday, April, 30, 2014: </b>Cruise Kaptai Lake, then
fly Chittagong, Bangladesh, to Dhaka, Bangladesh<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I woke naturally at 05:30 and instead of going back to sleep
for another hour I got up to bathe.
Before I went to bed I found the sink to be full of little bugs so I put
a sheet of Bounce in it before I retired.
When I went in there in the morning the only bugs left in the sink were
dead and easily brushed down the drain.
I liked to think the smell of the Bounce sheet ran off the live bugs
leaving just their dead mates behind.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The tub had a wand plus the shower and rather than spray I
used a combination of the wand and a bucket which I filled partially with hot
water to bathe. It worked out well and I
felt refreshed. The towel was large,
twice the size from the day before.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Mojah knocked on our door at 07:30 to drive us to
breakfast. I asked him if we were
returning to our cottages before we went on tour and he replied “yes”. Breakfast was pretty good. Each of us had two pieces of toast wrapped in
a napkin and a plate of mixed fruit jelly, and an omelet. In addition there were dishes of Indian food
on the table. I shared two pots of tea
with Mary while the others had coffee.
At the next table three armed with rifles, policeman ate breakfast.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After breakfast we gathered outside to be driven back to our
cottages only to be informed we were walking directly to board a boat. Steve and I had left our day bags in our room
so we walked briskly back to the cottage.
I had to take my morning constitutional and Steve left me alone in the
room. When I came out Mojah was waiting
and apologized for misleading me earlier.
The two of us then walked briskly back to the Reception building and on
past it to a set of stairs (150) leading down to the “Hanging Bridge”. The bridge was built in the 1980’s to cross a
gorge. It is only a pedestrian bridge
and sways as you walk across. On the far
side we climbed some steps and then walked down a path to the boat landing. We boarded a boat marked “Tourist Boat” that
had 14 comfortable plastic chairs facing forward. The policeman joined us. The boat had a cover with open sides.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We boarded the boat and I sat in the second row on the left
side and departed the shore at 08:35 to cruise the Kaptai Lake. The lake was created in the 1950’s when the river
was dammed up to create electricity and store water for crops.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As we cruised across and around the lake we saw many
fisherman using nets to catch the fish.
Several methods were used. Near
the shore the net was taken by boat to form a half circle with to points at the
shore. Two men, standing in waist high
water would then pull in their end of the net to make the half circle
smaller. Eventually they were able to
gather in the net and dump the catch. A
variation of the method the two men at the end of the net would be on shore and
pull in their end of the net.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Out on the lake a third method was used where a floating
platform served in close the open end of the half circle of net. On the platform two men reeled in their end
of the net while a group of men stood ready to gather the net and dump the
catch in a boat alongside the platform.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We saw a number of boats ferrying people and goods across
the lake. About an hour out we landed on
a beach to tour the Hemanta village. The
policemen were with us to stop the locals from shaking down the tourist which
they have been known to do in the past.
Due to the low water level we had a long path to get to the village
stairs and then had to climb 150 steps.
Every ten steps had a short landing which eased the climb.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The people in the village were very friendly and posed for
pictures. Several women were smoking a
bamboo pipe with water in it. They came
out of their hut to show off. We
continued to climb up to a school.
Several classes were in session and they let us take pictures of the
classrooms. I had to “go” and used the
school facility. It was a hole in the
floor with a bucket of water and a toilet brush in the corner (Very neat and
clean).<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Descending back to the village huts we were led to a woman
spinning a colorful cloth. We were only
in the village for forty five minutes and then walked back on a path through
their rice fields to the boat. Close to
the boat landing I encountered a herd of goats.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At 10:35 we were on our way across the lake, taking a
slightly different route that took us closer to the shore line by the
city. The row of buildings on long
stiles was a sight to see. We even
cruised by an area where we could see our cottages. Along the shore was the typical, women
washing clothes, children swimming and people bathing.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We docked in time for a noon lunch. They served us small pieces of fish in a
spicy sauce and cold water. Back in my
room I wrote in my journal until 13:45 when I packed up and set my bags outside
the door. We departed at 14:00 for
Chittagong. The terrain and villages
were similar to what we had experienced the previous days except there was a
lot more road work and I bounced around a lot more sitting in the back of the
van. The road was a National Highway R163,
the Chittagong – Rangunia Highway with center lines in most areas although no
one pays any attention to a center line.
It generally follows the Karnafully River but in some areas it was quite
hilly with wooded areas. A lot of the
terrain was flat rice paddies. The
roadside stands, crowded villages with lots of Tuk Tuks, heavy trucks,
motorbikes and bicycles were the same as we had seen. We had to be signed out of the Rangamati area
at a Police Check Post. For some reason
it took Mojah longer and he appeared to be in a heated discussion with the
Police Office at the Check Post.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We crossed over the Isamathi River, and then the Halda River. Entering the suburbs of Chittagong we would
encounter traffic jams. The cause in
many cases was Tuk Tuks or Pedi cabs driving in the wrong direction. As soon as we crawled through the suburbs the
traffic would flow again and we would in just a few hundred yards be in rice
field terrain. The closed we got to the
center of Chittagong the longer it took us to make forward progress in the tied
up traffic. I got to know every pimple
on the face of the passenger in the truck next to me for so long jockeying back
and forth. The sides of the city buses showed
the wear and tear of the city’s traffic with scrapes and dents along their
sides and at both ends. We encountered
several double decker, red London style buses and wondered if they were left
here in 1948 when the British departed and are still in use.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At 17:30 we pulled into a Continental style Restaurant only
be told it was closed so we pressed on.
A Policeman stopped us an some lame excuse and it turned out he was
shaking Noor down and when Noor told him it was a company van full of Americans
he backed off his demand and let us proceed.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
South of the city center Noor turned off the main clogged
highway and headed to the Industrial area along the river front. We were passing by large truck parking areas
and could see the cargo and container ships to our east when we came upon a
golf course. Noor turned into a driveway
to the Yacht Club. It is open to
Foreigners and had a nice restaurant overlooking the channel.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Mojah ordered the meal which turned out to be a modified
Chinese dinner, with fried Won Tong to start followed by Egg Drop soup, fried
rice and what looked like sweet and sour pieces of fish but tasted a little different
and spicier than the Chinese would make.
Steve had spied a Movanpick Ice Cream box when he entered the restaurant
and loves their dark chocolate ice cream so for dessert we had ice cream in a
small cup.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After dinner it was a short ride to the airport (we had
watched planes on final approach passing by the yacht club). The flight was hours late and they wouldn’t
even let us check in until 20:00.
Security was a snap and the terminal had strong free Wi-Fi. I was able to have a long conversation with
Judy since I hadn’t talked to her or emailed for three days. We were in an air conditioned gate area and I
was able to process a lot of email on my smart phone as we waited until our
flight was called at 21:30 (3 hours late!).<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was a short forty minute flight to Dhaka and then the
thirty plus minute ride to the hotel.
The traffic was a little better than when we had arrived on Saturday
night about the same time to the same hotel.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When we were setting up the times for the next day with
Mojah, Lynn, Mary, Linda and Del told him they were skipping the morning tour
to the Sadarghat River Terminal, Star Mosque, Lalbag Mughal Fort, Dhakeswari
Temple, and Central Shahid Minar. They
left for their rooms leaving Steve and I to negotiate the schedule with
Mojah. I could tell he was shocked and
hurt that no one wanted to see his native city.
Steve wasn’t enthused about seeing another Mosque or Temple and we
decide to skip the morning ourselves. I
asked him if he could add some of the sites to the afternoon tour and he would
do what he could. We also agreed that
lunch was going to be on our own.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After washing some clothes (they were soaking wet from the
high humidity and lack of air conditioning on the plane) and setting up my
laptop (free cable connect in the room) I retired at 00:30.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Thursday, May, 01, 2014: </b>Tour Dhaka, then fly to Kula
Lumpur, Malaysia<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I woke to the blare of the TV at 07:15. Steve told me there had been a power outage
and when the power returned it kicked on the TV and air conditioner. I don’t know how long it had been off since I
had my battery pack on my CPAP machine but my clothes were still damp.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I showered in a very humid bathroom. Used the hair dryer to dry at least my under
pants and joined Steve at breakfast. We
were the first to eat. I had a nice egg
over easy, toast fruit and tea.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After breakfast I called Judy and returned to my room to
write in my journal and catch up on my emails.
At 15:00 we started our tour of the city by visiting the Sadarghat River
Terminal. There Mojah took us on one of
the many huge ferry boats that shuttle people around the delta area. They were sparsely furnished with people
laying on bedrolls on the floor. The
trash in the river was unbelievable.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We rode by many of the sites we were originally scheduled to
visit without stopping. I was able to
take some pictures from my front seat vantage point and then we came to the National
Parliament House area. The National
Assembly Building was designed by Louis Kahn and is an architectural wonder,
completed in 1982. The complex, which
accommodates all Bangladesh's seven parliaments, is one of the largest
legislative complexes in the world, comprising 200 acres. The exterior of the building is striking in
its simplicity, with huge walls deeply recessed by porticoes and large openings
of regular geometric shapes. The main
building, which is at the center of the complex, is divided into three parts –
the Main Plaza, South Plaza and Presidential Plaza. An artificial lake surrounds three sides of
the main building. We were able to get
out of the van and take pictures from a distance, but to get a good picture of
the structure you had to be a distance away.
A wide boulevard passes by the front of the complex and is painted in
colorful geometric shapes.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Leaving the complex we rode about forty minutes skirting the
city to the National Martyrs' Memorial (Jatiyo Smriti Soudho). It’s the national monument of Bangladesh and was
the symbol in the memory of the valor and the sacrifice of all those who gave
their lives in the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971, which brought
independence and separated Bangladesh from Pakistan. The monument is composed of 7 isosceles
triangular pyramid shaped structures, with the middle one being the tallest. The highest point of the monument is 150 feet.
There was an artificial lake, and
several mass graves in front of the main monument. It was really impressive.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The area was crowded with visitors. Many wanted to have their pictures taken with
us. Lynn and Mary didn’t want to walk
the steps required to get close to the monument and were sitting on a side wall
where they drew a large crowd wanting to take their pictures with their
children. When Mojah, Steve and I went
looking for them we almost couldn’t find them because of the crowd that had
formed around them.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When we left the monument we rode for an hour back into the
city to stop for dinner at the ‘Hungry Duck’ Restaurant near the airport. We arrived at 18:45 a little early for their
19:00 buffet. It was a cute place with
some interesting paintings on the walls and a big celebration was taking place
at a string of tables. When the buffet
opened we helped ourselves. It would be
the last supper for the group. For most
of us it had been thirty days. At 20:20
we left for the airport.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Check in at the Dhaka Airport was a big fiasco. Our baggage was screened on entry and then there
was one long line to the Malaysia Airlines check in area which had six stations
but only two agents working. There was
no control of the queue and the agents jumped from one station to the
next. Late arrivers were by passing the
lone queue and when I looked for someone in charge to get a hold on the
situation he told me that they were having printing problems and that was all
he could concentrate on.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Finally our group moved close to the stations. Lynn, Mary and Steve were on one ticket, Del
and Linda on a different ticket and I was on a third ticket. As the first group was getting checked in and
Del and Linda would be next, a station opened in front of me and an agent told me
to step forward and I ended up getting checked in before the others
finished. Our visit to Bangladesh ended
in a chaotic fashion.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was the end of thirty days of my travel with Steve, Lynn
and Mary through Sri Lanka, Maladies Islands, India and Bangladesh. Next I was going on alone to tour Myanmar and
Laos.<o:p></o:p></div>
Edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03034021752003929779noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2230692068076603436.post-3894233597148094082014-07-04T15:55:00.000-07:002014-07-04T15:55:06.690-07:00India Islands & Western India Tour - April 2014<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Overview:</b> <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My India tour was scheduled with Advantage Travel &
Tours, Poway, California to complete my visits to all the countries in
Asia. The trip combined set tours by
Advantage Travel to Western India with a pre-tour to Sri Lanka and the Maldives
Islands and a post-tour to Bangladesh, Myanmar and Laos. The following is my journal of just the tour
of India. It started by leaving a tour
of Sri Lanka and the Maldives Islands with Lynn Bishop, Mary Warren and Steve
Mathews. I had roomed with Lynn on many
trips in the past and had traveled with Mary on the North Korea trip. On this trip I roomed with Steve Matthews
from Orleans, Vermont. We were joined in
India by Del and Linda McCuen, who I had just toured Cocos (Keeling) and
Christmas Islands with; Bob and Cathy Prada, owners of Advantage Travel and
Tours; Mike Bidwell, Bill Boyd, Edith Ann Pazmino and Marian Speno with who I
have taken many trips.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The journal starts in Male, Maldives.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt;">
<b>Thursday, April, 10, 2014: </b>Fly to Bangalore, India via
Thiruvananthapuram, India<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I awoke to my alarm at 06:00, showered and finished
packing. Steve and I went to breakfast
at 07:00. I deviated from my daily egg
and had their thin oatmeal. Just as I
was finishing, Mary and Lynn arrived. I
returned to my room, called Judy and finished packing.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Checkout time was scheduled for 08:45. I was the last to checkout and they socked me
with a $101 bill. Our lunches were
supposed to be included but the first day we didn’t have our room assignments
when we had lunch so they billed us, all on my bill for the lunch and
drinks. I was able to get them to
straighten it out and my bill was only $10.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The boat ride to the airport was a quick three minutes in
the hotel’s speed boat with twin 200hp outboard motors. We had a security check entering the check in
area and another check entering the departure area. Our gate was not assigned and we waited in
the Burger King area and watched for our Air India aircraft to arrive. The terminal was a busy place with wide body
aircraft on the ramp from British Airways, Korea, Aeroflot, Malaysia,
Lufthansa, Sri Lanka and several more.
When the Air India, A-320 arrived it was about smallest aircraft on the
ramp.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We walked to the aircraft.
It was a one class configuration and we were assigned seats in rows 2
and 3. I had no one next to me. I was appalled at the rundown condition of
the aircraft. The seat covers were
tattered, there were furnishings missing or broken on the seats. The lavatory was rundown and there were no
tissues or paper towels. I read in their
Inflight magazine that their plan to join the Star Alliance. They certainly are not up to the standards of
other Star Alliance airlines.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
They served a lunch of spicy chicken and rice on the one
hour leg to Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum).
We were on the ground for 55 minutes during which time Indian Security
boarded the plane and checked that we were supposed to remain on the plane and
that the bags in the overhead belonged to a passenger. Every seat was taken on the next leg to
Bangalore. The cabin crew was new and
they served a snack on the one hour flight.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Bangalore airport was very large but our plane was the
only one on the ramp. We used an air
bridge to deplane and didn’t have to wait long at Immigration. Baggage claim was another story. My bag was one of the last to arrive and then
it was selected to have a random x-ray at customs so I was the last one out of
Baggage Claim. The Clarks Exotica Resort
& Spa where we were booked (sounds like the British movie title “The Best
Exotic Marigold Hotel”) was less than 10 miles from the airport. On the way it started to rain but by the time
we reached the hotel it had stopped. Our
room was in a building across a parking area from Registration, next to a large
pool. I checked out the grounds and
attempted to contact Del and Linda McCuen who had arrived before us but they
were not in their room.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Dinner was in a building on the other side of the pool from
our building and at 19:00 when Steve and I left for dinner it was raining again
but one of the resort staff showed us a covered pathway to the building. The dinner was a buffet and many of the dishes
were spicy but I was able to pick some that were tolerable and took only a
small amount of the real spicy dishes.
We were glad that they served ice cream for dessert since it dampened
the spicy taste.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After dinner I attempted to contact the McCuen’s again to no
avail and then went to the Registration Desk to arrange for a mini bus to take
us (9 by then) to the airport in the morning.
Mike Bidwell was due to arrive around midnight and Bill Boyd and Edith
Ann also during the night. I returned to
my room and called Judy and then retired.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Friday, April, 11, 2014: </b>Fly to Agatti (Lakshadweep)
Island via Kochi, India<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our flight to Kochi was scheduled for 08:30 so we scheduled
a bus to take us at 06:45. I arose at
05:30, showered and packed. I checked my
email and called Judy knowing it might be the last time until Monday. I was the last one to leave our building to
checkout. As I approached the
Registration Building I saw two autos leaving full of what looked like members
of our group. When I entered the
registration lobby no one was there. The
desk clerk told me the group had left but a car was coming for me. I rode to the airport alone while the others
were crammed in the other cars, three people in the back and one in the front.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At the airport I caught up to the group. They were in the line to check in but I had
the document authorizing our visit to Lakshadweep which they needed to get a
boarding pass.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>Lakshadweep
is a Muslim dominated set of islands in the Arabian Sea west of mainland
India. Travel to the island is
controlled and which island non-Muslims can stay on is controlled so we had to
get an authorization letter in advance to fly there.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I couldn’t convince the group to check in together. Mike had a copy of the authorization letter
and was able to help Bill and Edith Ann who were being questioned by their
agent. I trumped the line when Steve got
to the counter and joined him. I had a
little trouble getting Lynn and Mary to pass the people in front of them to
check-in with us until our agent motioned them to come to the counter since the
four of us were on the same reservation.
We got our boarding passes without any trouble but Del and Linda had
trouble until I showed their agent the authorization letter.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We didn’t have anything out of the ordinary passing through
security at our gate. The plane was a
small prop ATR-42 parked out on the edge of the large ramp so they bussed us to
the plane. I had transferred items from
my carry on to my back pack so I could fit the carry on in the overhead but
when I got on board the flight attendant would not allow me to try, and stored
my bag in the tail section. After I was
seated Del and Linda came on and found they were assigned my seat. A flight attendant told them to sit in
another row and then a family of three came on and they were assigned to the
two seats Del and Linda were in and insisted they needed the seat because they
had the adjacent seat across the aisle.
I gave up my seat and move to the very back of the aircraft next to
Bill. I thought it would be a good seat
to take pictures from but the window was scratched and frosted over. The plane was not in very good condition.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The flight only took an hour to Kochi and all the passengers
except our group departed. We sat in the
plane for a about fifteen minutes while a Security Agent checked the overheads
and had us identify that all the items left on the plane belonged to the passengers
still on board. When she finished we
were told to exit the plane and sit in a bus alongside because it would be
cooler except the bus didn’t have its air conditioner on. Anyway, we sat in the bus and another bus
arrived with the new passengers which included Cathy and Bob Prada, our tour
agents, and Marion. They could wave to
us through the window. Eventually they
let us back on the plane for the one hour flight to Agatti Island, Lakshadweep
Islands.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When we landed in Agatti we walked to a small terminal and
told to sit along the wall. Cathy then
collected our boarding passes and passports and with a representative from
SPORTS, the Indian Tourist Authority, processed us in with the local
authorities and recorded in a large ledger.
Ah, the bureaucracy taught them by the British had not been replaced by
Information Technology!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Once we were processed and our passports returned we walked
to the next room and identified our luggage and it was loaded on mini buses,
some on roof racks. We were then bussed
to the island’s wharf about 5km from the airport. At the wharf we along with our luggage were
loaded in a small boat and ferried to a larger “high speed” boat for the two to
three hour ride to the island of Kadmat where we were to stay. We boarded the “high speed” boat and found 5
rows of airline type seats, two on each side of an aisle. The left side had a TV set playing an Indian
music DVD, so I elected to sit on the right side in the second row at the
window. Bill sat next to me. The boat then maneuvered alongside the wharf
and picked up several more passengers.
When we inquired why we had to be ferried to the boat we were told they
thought the ocean swells were to high to safely dock but that by the time we
had boarded the swells had diminished to the point they felt safe to dock at
the wharf. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We departed around 13:00 and they served us a hot lunch of
rice with things in it but no one in our group was willing to eat with their
fingers we asked them to keep it until we arrived in Kadmat. It was an over two hour ride to Kadmat. There we were able to dock at the wharf and
climb concrete steps up to the top where we were greeted by another
representative of SPORT and loaded in a rusty bus. Our luggage took up the rear seat and several
of us stood for the 5km ride to the resort.
The island has a single width concrete road and we passed through the
village and numerous concrete houses and tin covered or grass covered
shacks. There were a lot of coconut
trees and some banana trees. The resort
had a gate and a number of buildings. We
were asked to sit under a grass roofed area while they served us coconut milk
and then cut open the coconut to enable us to eat the meat. The couples were each assigned to a cabin
with a porch, sitting room, large bedroom with twin beds and a large bathroom,
facing the west beach.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Steve and I were assigned the third cabin. I had to use an extension cord to get power
to my power strip on the table between our beds. There was a bookcase with an outlet on the
north wall (our beds were on the south wall) that was deep enough for me to
setup my laptop. It was after 16:00 when
we unpacked and walked around the resort.
It was the very south end of the island and that provided beaches on
both sides of the resort. The west side
water was rougher than the east side because the east side had an outer reef
that the waves broke on and just swells broke on the beach.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Tea was served in the Cafeteria at 16:30. We sat around talking with Bob and Cathy and
then moved to the beach and sat in wicker chairs to continue our discussions
with Edith Ann, Mary and Linda. Dinner
was served at 19:30 in the Cafeteria.
They served a salad of tomatoes, cucumber and onions, a vegetable mix
and chicken pieces in a spicy sauce. It
was dark when we walked back to our cabins.
Steve attempted to take a shower and couldn’t get any water
pressure. We also couldn’t get the hot
water heater to turn on. I was still
dressed and went out to get one of the staff to see about the water. A sort of night watchmen was sitting under
the water tank at the end of the row of cabins and he came over to help. Of course when he got there the water flowed
so we were so embarrassed we let him leave without getting the hot water tank
turned on. As soon as he left Steve
couldn’t get the shower to work so he gave up.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I wrote in my journal and retired about 21:00.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Saturday, April, 12,
2014:</b> Tour Kadmat, Lakshadweep<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We woke around 06:00 and decided to get up. I attempted to take a shower but there was no
water pressure. I had filled a bucket
the day before and I used water from the bucket to shave. Steve and I then went for a walk and when we
were walking past the cafeteria kitchen the cook met us and he introduced
himself. He told us that he would be
setting out tea as soon as he finished his morning prayer. We walked some more and entered the cafeteria
about 06:40 and Del and Linda were there patiently waiting for tea to be
served. We told them that the cook was
taking his morning prayer and would soon be serving. I reminded them that although the sign on the
door said tea time would be at 06:30, prayer time varied with the sunrise so we
hit a time of the year when the schedules conflicted.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Tea was soon served and a few more members of our group
straggled in. Steve and I returned to
our cabin and changed into swim suits and took a swim off the beach in front of
our cabin Bob Prada soon joined us with his snorkeling mask and he waded and
swam out to the coral. Steve and I didn’t
go out that far since I didn’t have my googles (I had forgot to pack my snorkel
mask) to be able to see any fishes. We
returned to our cabin to change for the 08:30 breakfast.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Breakfast was an omelet toast and naan with a coconut sauce
for the naan. The coconut sauce was delicious. Bob gave a schedule for the day. Lunch was scheduled for 13:00, a glass bottom
boat tour at 14:00 and then a bus into the village at 17:00. After breakfast we walked around the area and
then I took another swim wearing my googles but the tide was high and I didn’t
see very many fish.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Steve was folding paper to construct a sphere to give to one
of the cafeteria staff he had become friendly with. After my swim I washed out my suit and hung
it over the porch railing to dry and read.
At 12:15 the man from the cafeteria came by to inform us that lunch was
ready.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We had salad (just sliced onion, tomatoes and cucumber) in a
creamy dressing, naan, a diced vegetable mix with mild sauce, and pieces of fish
(each piece with a bone) in a spicy sauce.
Dessert was water melon. Seven of
us boarded the small glass bottom boat at 14:00 for a one hour tour of the
coral to view the fish. Most of the
coral was dead but there were a lot of different fish in clumps of sea grass
and the few large coral that was alive.
At a point we attempted to pull alongside a turtle but he was faster
than our 9.9hp motor would propel our boat to overtake him. We saw many different colorful fish but most
were small.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The tide was out and I went in again with my googles and
that time I saw a lot of small fish. The
water was only up to my waist for a long distance from the shore. I swim back until it was so shallow my stroke
would hit the bottom and then I waded ashore.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Steve had finished constructing a sphere for Rafik, the
cafeteria worker, to give to his daughters.
I took a shower and washed out my bathing suit and then read until
16:45. Steve and walked over to the bus
that would take us to the village. It
was parked next to the gymnasium which had two weight lifting machines,
bicycles, a treadmill and a ping pong table.
A group of boys exited the gym when we approached and asked our
names. Only one was conversant in
English and told us they were eighth and ninth graders. April and May were school vacation months so
they were working out in the gym.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The rest of our group arrived and we left for the tour at
17:00. The resort we were staying at was
at the very south end of the island, 5km south of the village. They have a single lane concrete road leading
to the village with several concrete driveways or short side streets along the
way. The driver honked his horn at every
bicycle rider, motorcycle, tuk-tuk or person walking he saw. Several places were tight when a tuk-tuk
passed going in the opposite direction.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When we reached the village we turned off the main road and
rode down a side street to the Police Station.
We were told we had to have our passports stamped to indicate we had
been on the island. Cathy gave them a
list of our group with the permission from the government to visit Lakshadweep. The police told us to continue our tour of
the island and stop on the exit of the village to get our passports stamped.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We boarded the bus and rode north to the end of the paved
road and then trough a coconut grove to the very tip of the island where we
stopped for picture taking. The island
has beautiful sandy beaches all away around, it is a shame it is not a bigger
resort destination.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We rode back to the village and stopped at some stores to
see if the sold diet colas (only regular Coke was available at the
resort). No store sold them that our
driver could find. We then stopped at
the Internet Café. It was 18:10 and the
proprietor told us he would not have a connection until 19:00. I discovered a Wi-Fi signal on my cell phone
but it required a password and proprietor claimed he didn’t know it. We stopped near the island’s wharf and the
driver told me I could get a signal there but it was a cell phone signal and
not a Wi-Fi signal. It would have been
5am in California if I had been able to connect.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Back on the bus we returned to the Police Station. That time we had to have a face-to-face
meeting with the official that stamped our passport. We were still confused as to why we needed
the stamp since it was not an entry or exit stamp, just a stamp with the date
stating: “POLICE STATION KADMAT”. It was
a large stamp, twice the size of the India Arrival stamp. The bureaucracy the British taught them lives
on!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Once we were all processed we boarded the bus and rode back
to the resort, horn blowing all the way.
Just short of the resort gate we passed a wedding party that was being
held in a very colorfully decorated tent next to the road. We exited the bus around 18:40 and dinner was
19:30. I had salad (sliced tomatoes,
cucumber and onion) with no dressing, coleslaw, naan, diced vegetables in a
sauce, and chicken in a spicy sauce.
Each piece of chicken contained a small bone. Dessert was a have a pear and a spoon of
backed custard.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Bob announced a change in our tour. The fast boat to Agatti Island was not
guaranteed for Monday so the Lakshadweep Tour management had arrange for us to
leave Sunday for Kavaratti, an island closer to Agatti and the administrative
capital of Lakshadweep. We would spend
the night there and leave for Agatti at a reasonable time on Monday.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I returned to my room and did some packing and retired about
21:00 for a restful night’s sleep.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Sunday, April, 13,
2014:</b> Travel from Kadmat Island to Kavaratti Island, Lakshadweep<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I had the alarm set for 07:30 but woke up from a sound sleep
at 06:30. The water pressure was up and
was able to take a shower but I never was able to get hot water out of the
shower head but was able to get it from the tap below. I filled one of the plastic scoops with hot
water from a faucet below the shower faucet and then used that to shave in the
sink which only has cold (tempt) water.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I informed Steve that the pressure was up and he tried to
take a shower and the water only dribbled from the shower head but he had the
faucets below running and I told him to turn those off and then tempt water
came out of the shower head and he was able to take a shower.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We went to breakfast at 08:30 and had the egg omelet, a
pancake, and toast. Bob and Cathy sat
with Steve and me. Steve gave the
cafeteria staff a demonstration on making origami birds while Bob and I talked
about future trips he and Cathy were planning.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After breakfast I returned to my room and wrote in my
journal until a little after 11:00 when a member of the resort staff arrived
with a form we had to fill out. The bureaucracy
continued!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We had lunch at 12:00 consisting of the sliced tomatoes,
cucumbers and onions without dressing, mixed vegetables in a mild sauce and
pieces of chicken in a sauce with watermelon for dessert. It was a fast lunch as we had to board the bus
for the ride to the wharf. At the wharf
we were loaded in a small boat that took us out to the “fast” boat. It was similar to the boat that had ferried
us to the Kadmat but a few less seats and they were in better condition. I occupied the same seat I had sat in on the
ferry to the island, second row, port side window. Bill Boyd sat next to me with Mike and Cathy
in the row in back of us.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The ride took two and one half hours. I read several columns by George Will that I
had stored on my smart phone and then engaged in conversation with Cathy and
Mike about future trips. Cathy had a copy of their latest newsletter and she
discussed the details of their new offerings.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When we arrived at Kavaratti our boat was able to dock at a pier
so going ashore was easier. The Hotel
was a short distance from the pier. We
were greeted with coconut to drink and then split open to eat the meat. Our rooms were in a three story building with
two suites of two bedrooms per floor.
Steve and I were assigned to the second floor and I let Steve take the
big room with two chairs and I took the smaller room closer to the bathroom
with the refrigerator.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After getting our luggage to our room we had a scheduled
meeting in the welcome area. Before the
meeting started Bob and I took a quick ride into the town center where we saw
the location of the Internet Café and Bob purchased cold drinks at a small hotel
store that advertised wholesale and retail ice cream. The Internet Café was not scheduled to open until
18:00.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We returned to the group and had our meeting. Among the cold drinks was a lemonade tasting
drink from 7up they called “Nimbooz”.
Since alcohol was forbidden on the island we got a chuckle when Bob
announced he had bought booze in the village.
Bob then conducted the meeting informing us that dinner would be at
20:00 and breakfast at 07:00 and we would depart for the airport right after
breakfast. During the boat ride Bob had
sat next to a Lakshadweep Tourism Official and he told us what he had learned
from the official. One thing interesting
is they want to upgrade the runway to take larger jet aircraft and to setup
facilities for cruise ships to stop at some of the islands. He told Bob that the locals are happy with
their environment and not many leave for the mainland. Those that do go to school on the mainland
return to the peaceful low key life on the island after experiencing the
crowded “hustle-bustle” of mainland India.
The central government tends to ignore the islands. We had a long discussion with Marion as the group’s
expert on India since she had lived in the country at one time and follows news
and events, adding to Bob’s comments.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At 18:00 I walked over to the Internet Café to see if it had
Wi-Fi. I found that it did have Wi-Fi
but the kid on duty didn’t know the password.
Since I couldn’t call Judy on Voice over IP at 5am I didn’t peruse
trying to figure out the password and returned to my room.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Back in my room I unpacked, setup my CPAP machine and laptop
and wrote in my journal. Dinner was at
20:00 and we first sat in chairs on the beach as they served us a delicious
soup. We then moved to tables on the
beach with a light between the tables.
It was a very romantic looking setting for the last supper with the
Advantage Travel & Tours “family”.
The only drawback was some us heavier peoples chairs sank into the sand
so we almost had our chin in our food.
The funny bit was that Bill Boyd, the lightest member of our group was
the only one to have his chair fall over.
The food was not spicy with chicken as the meat. After a lot of good conversation and rehash
of past trips together we adjourned to our rooms for the night. I wrote for a while in my journal and turned
off the lights before 22:00.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Monday, April, 14, 2014: </b>Travel by boat from
Kavaratti to Agatti and fly, to Kochi, India and tour Kochi<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I woke to my alarm at 05:00 and attempted to shower. The water sprayed all over the bathroom
without much force so I used the scoop from the bucket and filled it from the
faucet and poured it over my head and body, this kept the water on the floor
limited to the area were the water drained through the hole in the corner. (Great design!)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At 05:30 one of the hotel staff knocked on our door to wake
us up. I was getting dressed by that
time but it woke Steve. I packed and
lugged my bags down to the bottom floor and then took a walk into town, hoping
to bootleg a Wi-Fi connection. I got no
signal outside the closed Internet Café so I returned to the room and waited
for breakfast at 07:00. When I went down
for breakfast it was not set up and Bob told us that the kitchen staff had not
been notified that we needed to leave for the boat at 07:30.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
They quickly set up and I had corn flakes cereal with what
turned out to be hot milk. At 07:30 they
loaded our bags in vans and Mike, Bob and Cathy and I walked to the wharf. There we were able to use stairs to get on
the ship. It was the same ship that we
had come to the island on the day before.
I sat next to the window in the third row on the right side next to
Bill. Steve was in the fourth row next
to Marion. He was making her an Origami
figure. Bill was fascinated and asked
Marion to trade seats so he could have Steve teach him how to make some paper
folded figures. Marion and I then
engaged in a lengthy conversation about my love of travel since an early
age. The time passed quickly that way
and even though it took two hours to reach Agatti Island. This time we docked at the wharf. When we had left Agatti we had to take a
small boat out to the “fast boat” because of high swells.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We piled into vans with luggage on the roof rack and rode up
to the airport. This time I checked my
carry on since I had read that Indian Security was tough on batteries. When I went through security they questioned
the small flashlight I had in my backpack but let me keep it. They stamped our passports and to our
surprise stamped the signature page on everyone’s passport. I guess he was too lazy to look for a vacant
page. That was a new experience for most
of us. I was using a two year passport
that would expire in less than a year so it didn’t concern me very much.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We had the same plane and one of the same flight attendants
on it that had flown us to the island.
The flight took off five minutes early and only took an hour and fifteen
minutes. They bused us to the
airport. Bob, Cathy and Marion were
flying on but Cathy got off to give each of us a good bye hug and wish us
well. I will not be traveling with them
again until March 2015.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The baggage arrival was a little different at the Cochin
airport. They had two carousel type
belts but they offloaded our bags on a straight conveyor belt which is usually
used for oversize cargo. My two pieces
were one of the first off and I was the first to exit the area and greeted by a
representative from the tour agent in India. After several of the group exchanged money we
were handed over to Afitith, our guide for the drive to the Zuri Resort in
Kumarakom. We boarded a nine passenger Force
Traveler, van for the two hour ride with Nazeer as the driver. Since it was after noon and we had not eaten
lunch we asked Afitith to have the driver stop at a supermarket where we could
purchase snacks, diet coke, beer and wine.
We found that along the drive south through the city we didn’t pass any supermarkets. Finally we stopped at a Government run liquor
store with a long line out front where Afitith lead Mike, Del, Linda and me
through a bicycle parking garage to the loading dock where we purchased our liquor
right out of boxes. I bought a four pack
of beer for $5. Lynn and Mary bought
some doughnuts at a stand next door. When
we returned to the bus I ate one of the doughnuts which contained to everyone’s
surprise pieces of green pepper. Edith
Anne was unhappy that they didn’t have any diet soda.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We rode on out of the city through the country side. To our east side we could see the river and
small lakes. The buildings between the
road and the water were mostly shops with the homes on the west side of the
road. There were a several nice houses
and churches but mostly shacks, some with grass roofs. Near a Catholic School we passed a line of
pilgrims dressed in brown with white hoods carrying a black cross. Afitith told us it was a religious day and they
were walking to the cathedral we had previously passed. We were still pressing Afitith to stop at a supermarket
but if they even exist in this part of India they certainly wouldn’t be in the
small villages we were passing with many roadside fruit stands so we stopped at
a roadside fruit stand were I purchased a bag of peanuts (very spicy) and a
small bag of dates. Others bought
cookies, chips which turned out to be spicy and bananas. Diet soda was not sold there. I couldn’t open my peanut bag and next door
was a tailor stall and they lent me a scissors to cut it open while they laughed
at effort.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Back on the bus we rode on to the hotel which was a
beautiful resort on a lagoon with entry to the lake. There was a little island in the center of
the lagoon that could be reached by a causeway.
On the island was a white Buddha statue.
The reception building had open sides but also contained the Lime
Restaurant which had an enclosed, air conditioned area. They greeted us with cold wash cloths and a
coconut. My coconut was dry which I
hadn’t experienced before. While we
waited for our room assignments I found they had Wi-Fi but it required a room
number.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our rooms were in two buildings from the reception
building. It was large with a patio
facing the lagoon. There were no open
electrical outlets at the head of the beds but there were lamps. I had the room attendant get a power strip
that enabled me to connect my power strip and the lamp. Steve,s CPAP plug wouldn’t work in the hotel
power strip but did work in mine so I had the power strip under my pillow at
the head of the bed.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The room was so humid that the tile floor was wet and in the
bathroom condensation was dripping from the towel racks. They had a glass wall between the bathroom
and the bedroom. When I tried to lower
the blind I found it stuck and condensation dripping from the bottom of the
blind. The room attendant had to lower
it for us.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It took me hours to process my emails which had accumulated
in three days. Sometimes when I miss
three days it doesn’t take that long to catch up but that time I had several
message to reply and several YouTube’s to watch. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Dinner was at 19:30.
Steve and I ate with Lynn and Mary.
It was a buffet and I don’t know what I ate but it wasn’t too spicy and
the dessert bar included ice cream that was like tutti-frutti with nuts and fig
pieces in it which I found very delicious.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After dinner I was able to call Judy for the first time
since in several days. She had a rough
Sunday when her insulin was getting pumped but not entering her system. Fortunately she realized that she had trouble
and was able to change her pump line and get it working again. After my call I heard a lot of what sounded
like gun shots or firecrackers close by the resort. The Security Guard told me it was the farmers
celebrating the holy week. It reminded
me too much of my last night in Lybia.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I returned to my room, washed clothes and wrote in my journal
and retired at 22:00.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Tuesday, April, 15, 2014: </b>Cruise the backwaters of
Kerala, India<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I awoke before my alarm, a little after 06:00 from a sound
sleep. I had an unusual dream about
selling a large slab of beef with competing bidders. (Weird!)
The shower was great and my clothes had dried which surprised me.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Steve woke at 07:00 and we went to breakfast after
07:30. Everyone else had either finished
or were just finishing so we sat alone.
I had my usual one egg over and this time a pancake. After breakfast I was able to call Judy and
found she had an uneventful day after her tutoring session. I returned to my room, processed email, and
wrote in my journal until it was time to check out at 10:30.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I sat in the front seat next to Nazeer on our hour long
drive to the houseboat departure point. Nazeer
was very knowledgeable about the area and gave us a running commentary of what
we were seeing along the route. He had
been in the tourist business for over twenty years and was much better than Afitith
was. We stopped to take pictures of cashew trees and the large fruit that
contains the small nut. He told us that
Kerala had the highest literacy rate of any state in India and that over 95%
finish school. One very interesting fact
he told us was the rice fields are below sea (and lake and river) level. To his knowledge the only places like that in
the world. It makes it easy to flood the
rice fields and I guess they eventually pump the water back out to the canals.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We rode through areas similar to the day before and didn’t
see any beggars or really slum areas.
Many of the homes were brightly colored or tan painted. We rode past many coconut trees, mango
groves, banana groves and rice paddies.
The road side markets had bananas, colorful displays of fruits and
vegetables. Many hung samples of the
soda thy sold on string from the awning over the fruit displays. We passed several churches.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We arrived at the “Lakes & Lagoons, Backwater
Experiences, Tourist Boat Boarding Point” at noon. The bus parked under a bridge and we walked
to the River Escapes office to process in.
They had Wi-Fi and gave me the password while we waited to board our
boat.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The houseboats in Kerala are unlike any I have seen
before. They are two story constructed
out of rattan with a tight grass weave.
The top is round and the windows to the staterooms are mostly round on
top. They look a little like a Quonset
hut on a barge. The bow and stern have a
large decorative point. One of the staff
told us that there are over 1,000 houseboats on the backwater. Our group was assigned two houseboats: the <i>Manimalayar</i>, with two cabins and the <i>Pallanayar,</i> with three cabins plus a
kitchen. Steve and I were initially
assigned to the <i>Manimalayar</i> but when
I inspected the cabins I found they had just one large bed so we switched with
Mike and took the first cabin in the <i>Pallanayar</i>. All meals were served in the <i>Pallanayar</i> and only Mike traveled by
himself in the <i>Manimalaya</i> but it would
be tied up alongside whenever we stopped.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Once our processing was taken care of and our baggage loaded
we departed at 13:00 for our afternoon and night on the Kerala backwaters. We initially were on a canal and it was
interesting to see the water<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
They served lunch a little after 13:30. Again I was not sure what I ate except a
delicious pan fried small fresh water fish.
Unfortunately it was whole and tough to separate the meat from the bones. After lunch Mike stayed on the small boat and
we slowly cruised along the wide canals between the rice fields and rows of
houses. We saw women washing their clothes
in the canal by slapping them on a flat rock.
Every house had stair steps into the canal. At other houses we saw people washing
themselves and kids dipping in the water.
Boats of various sizes passed us in both directions.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At 16:00 we stopped and a small longboat came along side to
take us on a cruise through the narrow canals.
Only Del and I ventured forth. I
sat in the bow with Del behind me. It
was a fascinating cruise seeing the people and the houses up close. Several other longboats full of tourists from
the other River Escapes fleet were also cruising the canal. In one boat there were a number of children
sitting on the edge kicking their feet in the water waving at the people on the
shore. Most of the people ignored us
except the children. We saw several
people fishing with a slender pole, very still in deep concentration as we
passed by. It didn’t seem enjoyable to me and there was no indication they had
caught any fish.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We passed some unusually decorated houses, one with a modern
paint theme, another with a plaster relief of a dancing woman. Some of the houses were very elegant with
decorated boats moored alongside, other houses were on the verge of collapse,
but most were neatly kept. The water was
cloudy and I was surprised to see old men washing their mouth out with it and
one boy in water up to his neck filling his mouth with water and spitting it
out like a figure in a Roman fountain.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Three quarters into our cruise our boat stopped. The propeller had gotten fouled in a long
cloth and we had to pull up to the side of the canal while the boatman unwound
it. It took him about five minutes to
get us back to cruising. We returned to
our houseboat at 17:00 and resumed the cruise.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Tea was served at 17:20 with a plate of baked banana. Delicious!
We stopped cruising at 17:40 and tied up at the edge of the C Block
Kayal rice field on the Kainakary North Canal.
All the River Escapes’ houseboats tied up at the same place for the
night.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I went to my cabin and wrote in my journal. They turned the air conditioning on at 19:00
and served dinner at 19:30. None of the
dishes were spicy. Chicken was the main
dish. As usual it was small pieces with
bones in each piece. I did find one
piece with a large chunk of breast meat.
Dessert was sliced pineapple.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After dinner I returned to my air conditioned cabin to write
in my journal and retire.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Wednesday, April, 16, 2014: </b>Drive back to Kochi and
tour Kochi<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I awoke a little before 06:00, turned off my alarm and
showered. There was no hot water because
I needed to inform the staff five minutes in advance of the need so they could
activate the hot water heater. The water
was warm so I was able to comfortably shower and shave. After that I packed and wrote in my journal
until breakfast at 07:30.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We were served an omelet, toast and pieces of fruit,
including: pineapple, orange slices, watermelon, grapes and banana. We had pineapple smoothie and hot tea to
drink. We started back to the boarding
point when breakfast was served. As we
cruised in the wide canal we saw many people going about their morning rituals:
bathing, brushing their teeth, washing clothes and kitchen ware in the canal
water. The canal had many houseboats
cruising in both directions.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I returned to my air conditioned cabin and watched the
activity from the window as I wrote in my journal. As we approached the scheduled 09:00 docking
I packed up and took my bag to the common area deck. Many River Escape houseboats had beaten us to
the boarding point and our boat could not squeeze in between them to touch the
wall. After a few minutes of discussion
between the pilots of the boats our boat backed out and then tied up in back of
another boat. Just as this was happening
I realized I didn’t have my floppy hat and opened my bag and found it
there. I forgot to lock the bag when I
zipped it close.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Once they tied us to the bow of another boat we passed
through that boat to the wall. Our bus
was waiting and we soon had all the bags transferred and were ready to go when
I realized I didn’t have my sun glasses.
I returned to the houseboat and searched the room without finding them
and then returned to the bus and opened my bag to get my second pair. I discovered that my lock was gone and when I
opened the bag there was my sunglasses.
Fortunately I carry spare locks in my carry on.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We departed at 09:15 for our hotel in Cochin. It was basically the reverse of the route we
had ridden from the airport the day before.
I sat up front and took many pictures.
As I described before, we passed many houses and businesses. The most common vehicles on the back roads
were bicycles and motor bikes with some scooters. When we were on the state road more tuk tuks
appeared and many Japanese and Korean compact cars. I saw a few small Fords, Chevrolets, VWs, and
HM (Hindu Motors) Ambassador sedans.
When we reached the main highway there were a lot of large trucks and busses:
mostly Tata, Eicher, and Ashok Leyland brands.
I continued to be surprised at the number of Catholic churches and
schools we passed, even a Catholic College.
There were a number of Hindu Temples which I expected and a Mosque and
some other Christian churches along the way.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
An hour out Nazeer stopped at a super market. Edith Ann was in hog heaven because it sold
Diet Coke. I bought a couple bags of
peanuts and a Ginger Beer. Nazeer had a
van full of happy campers after the stop.
We entered the outskirts of the city and the traffic bogged down but
eventually we arrived at the Holiday Inn Hotel at 11:30. I was able to get on the Internet and call
Judy before she went to bed. I hadn’t
even checked my email and she told me that our Grandchildren were sick. Christine was home with a fever and Rex has
been walking in his sleep.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our room was very good but the only electrical outlet at the
head of the beds was one for the clock.
I unplugged the clock and plugged in my power strip and we were in
business. There was a desk that I
plugged in my laptop on and I started catching up on my email and then my
journal. I skipped lunch and ate half a
bag of peanuts and drank the Ginger Beer.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At 14:00 Nazeer arrived to drive us on our city tour. He picked up Naidu, a city guide, when he
crossed the toll bridge to the main city of Kochi. Our first site to ride by was the St.
Sebastian’s Church, a beautiful white structure dating back to 1833. Our first stop was at the Mattancherry
palace. Next door was the Jewish
cemetery and we could see the top of the Jewish Synagogue a few buildings away. When India gained its independence and Israel
was formed, most of the Kochi Jews immigrated to Israel leaving just seven
Jewish families in Kochi.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After our tour of the palace we went on a walking tour of
the neighborhood, stopping at the Spice Market which included clothes and a
weaving loom and jewelry store. We
stopped at a Philatelic display, passed children in uniform marching very
orderly along the street, saw the “Worlds’ Biggest Varpu” on our way back to
our bus. In the bus parking lot was a
large stone face just lying against the wall.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We then rode past the Dutch Cemetery and stopped at St.
Francis Church.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>St.
Francis Church was the first European church to be built in India within the
oldest European settlement of Fort Cochin.
Presumably it owes its origin to the Franciscan Friars who accompanied
the Portuguese expedition in 1500 AD. In
1516 it was rebuilt in stone with a tile roof and dedicated to St.
Anthony. In 1663 it came under the
control of the Dutch and converted into a Protestant Church in 1779. It was renovated in 1779 but remained the
possession of the Dutch even after British control over Cochin in 1795. In 1804 it voluntarily surrendered to the
Anglican Communion. After the British
left India it came under the control of the Church of South India.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The original Vasco da Gama tomb was in the church but years
after his death his remains were shipped back to Europe. We took a walking tour of the area and passed
the house Vasco da Gama lived in when in Cochin. Soon we were in a park by the Fort. It had large trees providing shade over the
park and some of the fallen trees were brightly painted to represent figures. A sign hung from one of the painted trees
saying “Fort Kochi S.T.U Walking Sellers Presents <i>The Art of Tree II”.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Along the parks edge was the famous Kochi Chinese Fishing
Nets. Their sign describes the
following:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>Chinese
fishing nets in use for the last 500 years and one of the tourist attractions
in Kerala, are fast vanishing from the Kochi coastline as huge maintenance
costs and poor catch is forcing fisherman to look for other alternatives.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>‘Cheena
vala’ in local parlance, the huge cantilevered fishing nets are believed to
have been brought by Portuguese from Macau, once Cochin was a Portuguese
colony.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>While
some accounts mention that the nets were set up between 1350 and 1450 AD by
traders from the court of Kubla Khan, some others say Chinese explorer Zhang
introduced the nets to Kochi shores<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>There
were at least 30 Chinese nets on the Fort Kochi and Vypeen shorelines about 10
years ago which now have been reduced to 20 including 11 in Fort Kochi and 9 in
Fort Vypeen.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>Set
up on bamboo and teak poles, the nets are fixed land installation for an
unusual form of fishing – shore operated lift nets suspended horizontally over
the sea, the nets give the appearance of a huge hammock.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>Huge
mechanical contrivances hold out horizontal nets of 20 meters or more
across. Each structure is a least 10
meters high and comprises a cantilever with an outstretched net suspended over
the sea and large stones suspended from ropes as counter weighing at the other end. Each net is operated by 5-6 fishermen.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>Rocks
each 30cm or so in diameter are suspended from ropes of different length as the
net is raised, some of the rocks come one by one to rest on a platform thereby
keeping everything in balance.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I took some pictures of the contraptions and walked along
the sea wall where there was fresh fish for sale. We exited the park and toured the Santa Cruz
Cathedral Basilica and its adjoining St. Joseph’s College.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Back in the bus we rode to the St. Sabastian Church complex
and then let our guide depart and we continued over the bridge to our hotel.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We had dinner at 19:30 and retired early since we had an
early departure from the hotel in the morning.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Thursday, April, 17, 2014: </b>Fly Kochi to Goa, India
via Mumbai/Bombay, India<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We rose at 05:00 to shower and packed for an early transfer
to the airport for our flight to Goa. The
checkin at the airport was our first flight on Jet Airways which was a low cost
airline and had strict baggage allowance of 20kg. My bag with the CPAP machine checks in at
26kg. Since we were on a group ticket
and several members of the group were not checking any bags the desk agent
waived my extra weight fee and checked the bag to Goa. Indian airport security was a little bit of a
hassle for me. They were concerned over
the “wires” I have in my carry on which include an extension cord, Internet
coax cable, laptop security cable, smart phone charger and a smart phone
battery charger. I had to dump the
contents of the bag and show them they were normal harmless “wires”. They did look at my batteries and passed
them.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The plane was a B-737-800 and was full. The flight took off on the scheduled time and
arrived early in Mumbai. There we had to
change planes and pass through the airport as a transit which meant we had to
go through security again. I had the
same hassle about the “wires” in my carry on and again no concern about my
batteries.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The aircraft was a B-737-700 and was full. It took off 25 minutes late resulting in landing
15 minutes late in Goa. The arrival at
Goa was strange. The tour guide met us
outside Baggage Claim but our bus was not allowed to enter the Arrivals area
and we had to wheel our luggage down a long driveway to an area full of parked
buses, taxis and vans. Our van was boxed
in by some buses and it took a while for it to finally reach a point where we
could load our bags.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We set off to tour about 14:00. The highway into the city was very
crowed. Indians do not stay in lanes and
with the number of Tuk Tuks and motor bikes weaving in and out of traffic it
was a challenge for our driver. At one
point we encountered “road rage”. The
driver of a car cut off another car and almost hit our van; he then drove erratically
speeding up and hitting his brakes. At
the next stop the driver that he almost hit jumped out of his car, opened his
trunk and got out a baseball bat but before he could use it the erratic driver
found a break in the traffic and raced off.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our schedule called for a tour before checking into our
hotel. Our first stop was the World
Heritage Monuments in Old Goa. There we
visited the Basilica of Bom Jesus, where the remains of St Francis Xavier lie
in a silver casket with glass sides. Our
guide told us that his body has never deteriorated since his death, but that is
not quite true. He does look a little
pale. But for someone who died that long
ago, he looks remarkably well.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The description they provided for the Basilica is as
follows:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: center;">
<i>THE BASILICA OF BOM JESUS<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>The
construction of this church of “Bom Jesus meaning good or infant” Jesus was
started in 1594 and consecrated in 1605 as inscribed in a choir the church
cruciform on plan, has three storied façade having a main entrance flanked by
two smaller entrances. The entire façade
was molded basalt casing and the remaining part is exposed in laterite
including the buttresses the façade has an IT at the top the letters “HIS” symbolizing
the first three letters of Jesus in Greek as one enters the choir. To the right is an altar of St. Anthony and
to the left is a wooden statue of St. Francis Xavier in the middle of the nave
on the northern wall is the cenotaph of Dom Jeronimo Mascarnhas the benefactor
of this church in the corresponding wall is profusely carved wooden pulpit with
a canopy. The main alter is flanked by
alters of Our Lady of Hope and St. Michael the richly gilded main alter has
infant Jesus and above it is a large statue of St. Ignatius Loyola and an “HIS”
medallion. Above the medallion, The Holy
Trinity-The Father, The Son and The Holy Sprit are depicted. The chapel on left-hand side is of the
Blessed Sacrament whereas that of right hand side has sacred relics of the body
of St. Francis Xavier. The interior of
this chapel is adorned with scenes from the life of the Saint. The adjoining corridor leads to an
exquisitely carved wooden door of oblong sacristy of vaulted roof with an apse
at the end.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In addition to the Basilica the other buildings we visited included
the Chapel of St. Cajetan; Church and Convent of St. Francis of Assisi; Chapel
of St. Catherine; Church of Our Lady Rosary; and Church of St. Augustine. There was an Archaeological Museum in the
complex but I didn’t get a chance to visit it.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After visiting Old Goa we went to new Goa which is now the
capital of the region. Goa is the
smallest of the Indian provinces with 1.8 million people. 65% of the people are Hindu, 30% are
Christian and only 5% are Muslim. Of the
30% Christians, all but 1.5% are Catholics.
The largest non-Catholic group the guide said was Seventh Day
Adventists. The streets of new Goa are
narrow and winding with the houses painted very colorfully. The building materials are primarily cement,
stone, or wood. Wood doesn't last well
in this environment as it is so hot and humid.
All seven rivers around Goa are navigable. Goa is noted for its many churches which are
very beautiful. They were all built by
the Portuguese who ruled here for some 450 years. In new Goa there is also are riverboat
casino. Our guide pointed out some
flowering cashew trees as they are getting ready to produce again later this year. I can now see why cashews are so expensive as
each nut has to be liberated from its shell.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We arrived at our hotel the Zuri White Sands, Goa Resort and
Casino around 16:30. The room was
comfortable and dinner was a buffet at which I was able to make a salad similar
to what I make at home. Good tomatoes,
lettuce, red cabbage, cucumbers and olives.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I had to call Judy from the lobby and even then the
bandwidth didn’t provide a strong connection and the call was further impacted
by a waterfall in the lobby.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Friday, April, 18, 2014: </b>Fly Goa, India to
Mumbai/Bombay, India<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We slept in and had a late breakfast because our transfer to
the airport for our flight to Mumbai was not scheduled until 13:30. I spent the morning writing in my journal and
trying to figure out the best configuration for my picture taking. Despite reformatting the 32GB memory card, my
SONY camera was still getting strange errors and not behaving correctly. I installed the 8GB memory card from my back
up camera in my primary camera and discovered that it would work as it is
supposed to. All the camera fooling
around limited the time I could spend on my journal.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At 13:30 we departed for the Dabolin/Goa airport and it
didn’t take too long to get there. We
were dropped off in front of the terminal and had to go through baggage
screening at the door. My bags checked
out alright and I proceeded to check in.
My big bag was overweight but since it was a group check in the agent
let it go through without charging me a fee.
It was nice not to have to go through Immigration and the Security at
the gate was not a hassle.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We arrived at the Mumbai Domestic Airport at 18:05 and since
we didn’t have to clear Immigration and Customs we were on our way to the
Hilton hotel in less than twenty minutes.
The drive only took fifteen minutes to the hotel.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We checked in and went to dinner at 19:30. Edith Ann discovered they made Pizza as an
option. I had a great salad with a plate
of humus. I was able to call Judy and
write a little in my journal before retiring at 21:30.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Saturday, April, 19,
2014:</b> Tour Mumbai/Bombay, India<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We were up at 06:00.
I had a great shower with the strongest water pressure in days. Steve went to breakfast while I called Judy
and then joined him. At breakfast I had
Dannon’s Mango Yogurt. The first Dannon
type yogurt I had seen on the trip. Most
places had yogurt in a bowl that was very watery. Our group was the only ones eating breakfast
when the restaurant opened at 07:30 since we had an 08:00 departure scheduled
for a tour of the city.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our tour bus driver, Gajendra, had arrived at 06:30 and was
waiting for Shilpa, our guide, to arrive.
She arrived right at 08:00. The
bus was an SML Isuzu, which I had never seen before. It had 13 very comfortable seats and strong
(almost too strong) air conditioning.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We rode for thirty minutes, past shops, apartments and
slums, then over a new bridge for our first stop at Dhobi Ghat the open air
Laundromat, called the world's largest outdoor laundry. The all-male washers, locally known as
Dhobis, work in the open to wash the clothes from Mumbai's hotels and
hospitals. There we got out of the bus
and took pictures of rows of open-air concrete wash pens, each fitted with its
own flogging stone, and with racks of clothesline nearby drying the clothes. Next to the area was a railroad station and we
watched men with huge bundles of clothes in white bags carrying the laundry on
their backs and heads.<span style="background: yellow; mso-highlight: yellow;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We were on an overpass looking down on the scene and the
roofs of the shacks next to wash pens were covered with trash like the slum dwellings
we passed on the way to the bridge.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Thirty minutes later we arrived at the Gateway of India, a monument
built by the British to commemorate the landing of King George V and Queen
Mary, when they visited India in 1911.
The monument was started in 1911 but was not completed until 1924. The structure is a basalt arch, 26 meters (85
feet) high and has been referred to as the Taj Mahal of Mumbai, and is the
city's top tourist attraction. It was
later the ceremonial entrance to India for Viceroys and the new Governors of
Bombay and served to allow entry and access to India and was the final
departure point for the British when India gained its independence.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We walked across a large plaza in front of the monument to
the dock on the other side and down stone steps to a ferry. The ferry had two decks and Shilpa told me
that there were 99 ferries in the harbor, 80 with two decks and 19 with just
one deck. They were tied up next to each
other in many cases I guess waiting their turn to dock aboard passengers to the
islands in the bay.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It took us an hour to reach Elephanta Island. We passed an unusual island that was man made
and covered with concrete towers and buildings.
It once served as one of the control points for ships entering the
harbor. To our north was the Indian
Naval Base and north of it the Cruise ship terminal. Out in the bay were several fuel islands and
the area was full of cargo vessels of all sizes.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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We docked at the end of a long pier and took a small train
to the main island. The tide was out and
there were a number of boats on their sides in the mud flats. At the end of the train ride there were
stalls along the path to the entrance to the 120 steps to the caves. They were selling hats, drinks and typical
tourist items. A number of monkeys were
climbing around waiting to pluck a water bottle or other item from people’s
backpacks. It was fun to watch them
drink sitting high on top of the lights what they had retrieved.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We started up the steps and the climb was a little strenuous
because there was no railing but it didn’t take that long. Edith Ann and Mary turned back and Lynn took
sometime but he made it to the top. It
was a sight to see. The Elephanta Caves
are two groups of caves that contain Hindu and Buddhist rock art architecture. The reliefs and sculptures in the caves have
been dated to between the 5th or 6th and 8th centuries. The Hindu caves are dedicated to the god
Shiva. These were regular Hindu places
of worship, and during the festival of Shiva people still continue to worship. The caves are hewn from solid basalt rock and
were painted in the past, but only traces remain.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Shilpa was very knowledgeable on the details of each
carving. In the large room of the cave
were columns and in the corners were carvings that Shilpa described in great
detail. At the back of the Hindu cave
was the three large faces of Shiva which represents the three aspects of Shiva
- the creator, preserver and destroyer.
To the left side was the Buddhist cave and to the right a water
spring. Near the center was a large urn
in a temple setting.<span style="background: yellow; mso-highlight: yellow;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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The Archaeological Survey of India describes the site as
follows:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>The
island of Elephanta, originally known as Ghararpuri, derives its name from a
massive stone image of [an] elephant now displayed in the “Veermata Jijabai
Garden” (Victoria Garden) in Mumbai. The
cave complex of Elephanta comprises a total of 7 caves. Of them five are in the lower western side,
while two are at the eastern top of the hillock. Out of 5 caves at the lower side the cave No.
I is exclusively carved with various manifestation of Lord Shiva. It consists of a pillared hall with a small
shrine and four entrance doors flanked by the Guardians. While the massive but graceful figures of
Divinities, Guardians, and certain architectural features such as square pillar
with cushion capitals suggest Chalukyan influence. The depiction of mountains and clouds and the
hairstyles of women are reminiscent of Gupta art.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>Facing
north, this main cave consists of a sanctum and massive hall divided into five
bays. The excellent carved panels on the
walls of this cave include the Yogeshvara (Lord of Yoga), Nataraja Shiva
(Cosmic Dancer), Shivaparvati, Ardhanarishvara, Gangadhara, Andhakasuravadha,
Ravananugraha Shiva, Kalyansunder Murti and Maheshmurti. The ceiling of the main cave is believed to
have been originally painted with different colors. The Maheshmurti of Shiva is depicted on the
south wall with three aspects of creation, protection, and destruction
revelealing a masterpiece of Chalukyan Gupta art.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>The
circular pedestal in the open courtyard marks the seat of Nandi (Bull) the
vehicle of Shiva. The side cave has a
small shrine and a Pradakshinapatha (circumambulatory passage) with an
interesting panel of Ashtamatrikas (eight Mother Goddesses) flanked by
Kartikeya and Ganesha.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>The
other caves are plain and lesser embellished.
The other Antiquqrian remains found in the Elephanta Caves are Stupa (3<sup>rd</sup>
Century BC) at the top of the hillock, Kshatrapa coins of the 4<sup>th</sup>
century AD and some sculptures including Mahishasurmardini, four headed image,
Brahma, Vishnu and Garuda.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After Shilpa had finished describing each bay and answered
our questions we walked back down the stairs.
At the bottom we found Edith Ann and Mary sitting in a café and we
joined them for a cold drink. On the way
back to the ferry landing we walked instead of taking the little train. We laughed at the site of a sign that said
“Please Keep Your Elephanta Clean” and in back was a beach littered with
rubbish.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We boarded the 12:20 ferry for the hour ride back to the
dock by the Gateway of India Monument. I
persuaded the group to have a group picture taken with the Gateway of India
Monument in the background. Local jerks
kept trying to be in our picture. Shilpa
tried to get them to move and in the picture without them Lynn was barely
visible. I just don’t understand some
people.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We boarded our van and rode to The Chhatrapati Shivaji
Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, formerly Prince of Wales Museum of Western India; it
was the main museum in Mumbai. Outside
the museum was the following description of the building:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>The
museum design was heavily influenced by the architecture of Bijapur and is
considered a fine example of the Indo – Saracenic style. It was designed by George Wittet, it reflects
his early influances derived from the architecture of John Begg’s General Post
Office building. Elements of traditional
architecture include carved stone brackets, jaalis and Rajput jharokas, along
with the dome resembling that of the Gol Gumbaz at Bijapur. The Foundation Stone was laid by the Prince
of Wales on his visit to the city in 1905 and the building was constructed in
1914. During World War I, the building
served as a military hospital and was finally inaugurated in 1922.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The museum building is surrounded by a garden of palm trees
and formal flower beds. It houses
approximately 50,000 exhibits of ancient Indian history as well as objects from
foreign lands, categorized primarily into three sections: Art, Archaeology and
Natural History. Among its collection
are Indus Valley Civilization artefacts, and other relics from ancient India
from the time of the Guptas, Mauryas, Chalukyas and Rashtrakuta. Cameras were not allowed as we toured the
museum for an hour.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When we boarded the van again we rode through the city
marveling at the architecture of the buildings.
We also saw a McDonalds, Pizza Hut and other fine American
influences. Our next stop was the
market, a trashy row of stalls selling everything under the sun. We only spent thirty minutes in the market
and then rode past the beautiful beach (off limits to foreigners because of the
pollution in the water), and stopped at Mani Bhavan, the Gandhi museum in the
mansion Gandhi stayed in during his visits to Mumbai between 1917 and 1934.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When we entered the place, there was a library with a statue
of the Mahatma where people offer their tributes. Then a staircase dotted with Gandhi's pictures
depicting his life that led to the first floor which had a big photo gallery
where photographs of his childhood till his assassination were displayed along
with press clippings. The room that
Gandhi used during his stay was on the second floor - there was a glass
partition and we could see through two of his spinning wheels, a book and floor
bed still preserved. Right opposite the
room there was a hall where photographs and paintings of his lifetime were on
display. Following that was the terrace
where he was arrested on Jan 4, 1932.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A description of the place read as follows:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>It
was from Mani Bhavan that Gandhi initiated the Non-Cooperation, Satyagraha,
Swadeshi, Khadi and Khilafat movements. In
1955, the building was taken over by the Gandhi Smarak Nidhi in order to
maintain it as a memorial to Gandhi, to his frequent stays, and to the
political activities he initiated from there. The two-storied structure standing on the
Laburnum Road is the city's pride. The
building, which is about 30 minutes’ drive from the Taj hotel, was Gandhi's
Mumbai headquarters for about 17 years - from 1917-1934. Gandhi's association with the charkha (Hindi
for Spinning Wheel) began in 1917, while he was staying at Mani Bhavan. Mani Bhavan is also closely associated with
Gandhi's involvement in the Home Rule Movement, as well as his decision to
abstain from drinking cow's milk in order to protest the cruel and inhuman
practice of phookan meted out to milch cattle common during that period.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
From the Mani Bhavan we rode up Malabar Hill to Kamala Nehru
Park named after Kamala Nehru, the wife of India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal
Nehru. There we saw the shoe structure
inspired by the nursery rhyme “There was an Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe”. It was four stories high and adults were not
allowed in. Children were having a great
time climbing inside and outside the structure.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
From the park we had great views of the city. It was a fitting place to end our tour of
Mumbai. We returned to the hotel, had a
nice buffet dinner at 19:30 and retired at 21:30.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Sunday, April, 20, 2014: </b>Fly Mumbai/Bombay, India to
Vadodara, India<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I don’t know what I was thinking the night before but I set
my alarm for 04:00 for a 06:45 departure for the airport. That woke Steve and the crazy light writing
in the room required that the master switch be turned on to get light in the
bathroom and that turned a light on over a picture in the bedroom. I don’t think Conrad, Nicky Hilton or
Elizabeth Taylor would have been pleased with the design of the hotel rooms.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I fretted over the 15kg limit on checked luggage and after
my shower I opened a collapsible bag from UTS and off loaded as much as I could
from my big bag. Even then with the CPAP
machine it weighed 18kg. With then three
bags to keep track of I wheeled them down to the lobby and went to breakfast at
06:00. At 06:30 Mike told me that a representative
from the India travel agency was out front to take just me to the
airport. When I got there and met the
agent he explained that since the rest of the group was flying on Air India and
I was flying on Jet Connect, we were going to different terminals. He had a special car just for me. My luggage had already been loaded in the
other cars and I got my two bags to check into my car and rode off to the
airport. When I unpacked at the airport
I realized I should have three instead of two and we piled back in the car and
drove over to the Air India Terminal which was a traffic mess. I ran up to the car that had Mike in it and
he told me they realized they had my third bag and it was sent to the Jet
Connect Terminal. I returned to my car
and the agent was on the phone to a fellow agent that had my bag at the Jet
Connect Terminal.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When we returned to the terminal the agent with my bag was
already past security inside. He passed
the bag to my agent before I could catch up to thank him. Now it got even more bazaar, my agent
insisted that I could carry on two bags since the UTS bag was less than the 7kg
limit and my normal carry-on was also less than 7kg. The only problem with that is the UTS bag contained
sunscreen, a small knife and other items that would not pass security. I was able to check both my big bag and the
UTS bag and pay a $40 over weight fee. In
retrospect I should have packed as I always did and pay the overweight. Then there would not have been the hassle and
I would have been checking for two bags when I left the hotel.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I finally got checked in and passed through security and
waited at the gate area. I was one of
the first in line for my flight and we were being bussed to the plane. After I was checked-in I had to wait for a
bus and I was directed to board a bus with passengers from another gate. I looked back at the people exiting the
building from my gate and they were being directed to another bus. Panic was setting in when I asked two men
next to me to show me their boarding passes.
They were both on my flight so I was relieved. My seat assignment was 21C so when the bus
stopped at our plane I walked to the rear entry stairs and had no hassle
getting to my seat. The flight departed
right on the scheduled departure and took only fifty minutes to Vadodara. The people in back of me were not smart
enough to exit to the rear stairs and I had to struggle to the front exit and
by the time I reached the ramp the bus was full so I had to walk back to the
rear door bus anyway.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My big bag was the last to come on the luggage
carousel. When I exited there was a sign
with my name on it. Rem, a Tour Guide
from Indian Travel Agency was waiting with his driver, Lal. He told me he had just dropped off Mr. Robert
at the airport. It didn’t dawn on me
that he was referring to Bob and Cathy until he told me he had just guiding
them on a three day tour.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The hotel was 10km from the airport and we were soon at the
Royal Orchid Central. Along the way I
saw the first large heard of cows wandering the streets of a busy city. Here to fore I had seen one or two in the
city traffic but here there were a dozen or more mixing in with the heavy noon
hour traffic. Check in at the hotel was easy but I found they had paid Wi-Fi
and no Business Center. It 11:00 and I
told Rem I didn’t need lunch so we agreed to start the local tour at
11:30. A bellman took my bags to my room
and when I went to retrieve a tip from my money poach it was missing. I got the money from my wallet and then
started a frantic search for the money pouch to no avail. I was sick when I when I went down to the
lobby to meet Rem at 11:30. He was on
his cell phone and told me the airline just contacted him and they had a
package of mine they found on the plane.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We drove back to the airport and a Jet Connect Agent greeted
us and handed me my pouch and a release form.
There was $523 in it and best as I could tell nothing had been
taken. I didn’t have an accurate account
since I transfer money to and from my wallet to the pouch. On the plane I had in a zipped pocket of my
vest and it has happened before if I forget to zip the pocket closed the pouch
falls out when I bend over and it must have fallen out when I retrieved my
backpack from under the seat on landing.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I then felt a lot better and was ready to tour the city of Vadodara,
also known as Baroda. Rem told me it was
the third largest city in the Indian State of Gujarat and is the administrative
headquarters of the Vadodara District. It
was located on the banks of the Vishwamitri River and both the railway line and
national highway connecting Delhi and Mumbai pass through Vadodara. The city had a population of almost 4.1
million people. It’s considered to be a
cultural and educational center, home of the Maharaja Sayajirao University of
Baroda, which is the largest university in Gujarat. I had noticed that several of young men on my
flight were reading college text books.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our first stop was the Laxmi Vilas Palace belonging to the
royal Gaekwad dynasty of the Marathas. It was a huge structure. A picture of it was over the airport arrival
hall entrance. Photos were not allowed
inside and I was issued an audio headset with a description in English of the
areas around the palace. The first stop
was a huge round pool (then empty) in front of the palace and an 18 hole golf
course beyond the pool. The dialog said
the palace is reputed to have been the largest private dwelling built to date
and was four times the size of Buckingham Palace. At the time of construction in 1890 it boasted
the most modern amenities such as elevators, indoor plumbing, and
electricity. The interior is reminiscent
of a large European country house and it remains the residence of the Royal Gaekwad
Family, who continue to be held in high esteem by the residents of Baroda ad
live in one wing of the palace. It took
12 years to be constructed and the architect, Major Charles Mant, was so unsure
of its long term survivability that he committed suicide after its construction
was completed. The rooms are decorated
with fine art and many famous sculptures.
If the Gaekwad’s could not purchase a piece of art they liked they paid
to have a reproduction made. It is nice
to see some of the Greek and Roman sculptures with their full face and arms
reproduced and on display.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After we left the palace we rode down the highway to another
entrance to the palace grounds and along a gravel road between a cricket field
and the golf course club houses to a the Maharaja Fateh Singh Museum building
that displays the art that the Gaekwad’s do not display in the palace. The Museum building was constructed as a
school for the Maharaja's children. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The most remarkable art on display is a collection of the
paintings of the renown Indian artist, Raja Ravi Varma, who was specially
commissioned by the then Maharaja of Baroda.
In addition there was a collection of portraits of the Royal family in
addition to the paintings based on Hindu mythology for which Raja Ravi Varma
was famous.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Outside the entrance to the museum was a train engine in a
display case. It was the engine for a
train that circled the estate and took the Royal Family children back and forth
to the school house from the palace.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Leaving the palace grounds we rode to the Baroda Museum
& Picture Gallery. The museum was
built in 1894 on the lines of Victoria & Albert and Science Museums of
London. The architect was also Major
Mant and has a similar look as the exterior of the palace.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III belonging to the Gaekwad
dynasty of the Marathas founded the museum in 1887. Although the museum building was completed in
1894, the construction of the art gallery didn’t start until 1908, and was
completed in 1914, but did not open until 1921 as the First World War delayed
transfer of pieces from Europe intended for the gallery.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It has galleries of art displayed by English, Italian,
French and Dutch schools. Other
galleries feature: an Egyptian mummy and Egyptian art; Tibetan Art; Oriental
art; bird ecology, animal ecology; and in the basement a huge blue whale that
died on the coast in the 1940’s.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Leaving the museum we rode a short distance to my
hotel. I washed some clothes, repacked some
of the foolishly packed UTS bag, signed on to the internet for $7 for 24hrs,
single connection, and wrote in my journal.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I went to dinner in the hotel restaurant at 19:30. They sat me at a small table next to a column
with a speaker overhead blaring Indian music so loud I couldn’t hear the
waiter’s questions. I gestured to the
speaker and asked him if they could turn the music down. He nodded and went in the back and all the
lights in the hotel went off. At first I
thought they had over compensated in turning the music down and out the window
I could I could see lights on across the street. The waiter returned to inform me that the
power on the hotel’s side of the street would be down for five minutes. I used the light from my cell phone to read
the drink menu and found the hotel didn’t offer alcohol. So, no beer for dinner.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Monday, April, 21, 2014: </b>Tour Champaner (UNESCO World
Heritage Site)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I was able to sleep until 06:00 because the schedule
departure for the day’s tour was not until 09:00. The bathroom had only two small dim recessed
lights but it did have glass walls to the bedroom and since I was alone I
didn’t close the blind and I directed the bed’s reading light towards the
bathroom. The water never got hot but
was warm enough to take a comfortable shower.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At 07:00 I went down to breakfast and was the first one
there. I ordered one egg over easy and
got two eggs over hard. The toaster was
not on and eventually they delivered two half toasted pieces of bread. The fruit, (watermelon, papaya, mango and
pineapple) was cut in small pieces and I didn’t see any meat or cheese to go with
my egg. Needless to say it was not one
of the better breakfasts on the trip.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I returned to my room, packed and called Judy. I was not buying anything but my bags seemed
to get bigger. I wheeled them down to
the lobby and checked out a little before 09:00. Ram was there and we left right at
09:00. There were few cows wandering the
road compared to the afternoon before. I
guess they sleep in. We headed out of
the city on a toll road.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I neglected to mention in previous day’s journal’s, the toll
booths in India. They are not
constructed to handle different size vehicles so at many of the toll plaza
there is a man standing on cinder blocks that takes the money from the driver
and hands it through a rather small window to the cashier and returns the ticket
and any change back to the driver. A
third person sits on the island between toll booths to monitor the activity; inefficiency
to the extreme!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Along the road we passed pilgrims walking to the Meha Kacli
Temple on top of the mountain at Pavagadh.
It took us one hour on the toll road to reach the side road to Ek Minar
Ki Masjid. Lal stopped and Ram and I
walked down a gravel road to the five story high minaret which is all that
remains of the ancient mosque. Four caretakers
were at the grounds, three men taking naps and a women trimming around the
bushes. Our arrival to walk close to the
minaret to see the unusual combination of Hindu and Muslim design woke the men
and they embarrassingly started to look busy doing nothing. The minaret has stood the test of time and
was constructed without mortar using a locking design that holds and locks the column
together by the weight of the levels above; very in-genius!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The walk down and back to the site we were serenaded by the
sound of a cricket like bug. Ram told me
the locals of the area catch the bug and make the red wax that was used to seal
documents.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Five minutes after leaving Ek Minar Ki Masjid we entered the
gate to Champaner, an ancient fortified city.
It is a large complex and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Pavagadh Archaeological
Park. The ancient town of Champaner had
a rich historical culture and was a major trade center dealing in fine silk,
woven and dyed textile, and sword manufacturing. The entire landscape of Champaner has many ruins
of fort walls, tombs, gardens, arches, pillars and wells. We found the town a little rundown.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We entered the South Bhadra Gate and stopped at Saher Ki
Masjid (Bohrani) for a tour. The site is
described as:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>This
“Mosque of the City” was a private mosque built for royal family and nobles of
the Gujarat Sultanate (15<sup>th</sup> – 16<sup>th</sup> Century). In a mixed Indian trabeate (pillar and beam)
and Islamic arcuate (column and arch) style.
Constructed on a rasied platform.
The mosque (56 x 40m) has a large hall with five mihrabs, accessed
through a central arched entranced flanked by two minarets on both sides. In addition, there are two arched entrances
on either side of the central one fringed by jharokhas. Corresponding to each arch entrance is a
large dome in a central row, each surrounded on four sides by cupolas. A battlement runs over the façade provided
with a chhajja. To south-east of the
mosque, close to citadel walls, are preserved remains of a small ablution tank.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We walked through the mosque and we were the only ones
except for a woman sweeping the leaves off the floor. When we returned to the car we rode a short distance
through the town to The Jami Masjid. It
is described as follows:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>The
Jami Masjid is one [of] the most imposing monuments of Champaner – Pavagahdh Archaeological
Park. Located outside the royal enclosure
at Champaner this colossal mosque is architecturally classified as one of the
finest mosque of Gujarat. It exemplifies
a perfect blend of Indo-islamic architectural style.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>The
mosque (66 x 55m) is raised on a high plinth which can be accessed through
three imposing porches on north, south and east. The last one is most remarkable for its
intricate carving and perforated stone screen work. The open courtyard of the mosque is surrounded
on three sides by covered cloisters of one aisle deep. The prayer hall has five pointed archways
with the central one being the highest and flanked by two slender
minarets. The prayer hall has additional
smaller minarets at its four corners.
[The] Central dome is elevated on clerestory allowing natural light and
ventilation inside the mosque. Its
intrados are filled by ribbed stone slabs of great beauty. There are seven mihrabs at the west wall of
the main prayer hall. At the top of the
central mihab was fixed an inscribed tablet now lost informing [the] date of
completion of the mosque in 1508-09. The
northern section of the prayer hall is separated by a perforated screen with
separate entrance reserved for royal ladies.
Balconied windows of typical Gujarat variety relive the plain look of
the façade and side walls.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Approaching the main entrance we saw an enormous bee hive
hanging from the archway. I guess there
are Muslim bees that have to visit a mosque on a daily basis. Again we were the only ones walking through
the mosque except for a young man sweeping the floor of the royal ladies
area. It was an impressive building.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The next mosque to visit was about ten minutes away. It was the Kevda Masjid described as follows:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>Kevda
Masjid built during the regn of Mahmud Begda (1458-1511 A.D.) is rectangular on
plan with a double storeyed main prayer hall.
The two minarets on either side of the central arced enterance are
beautifully carved and niches are filled with floral and geometrical
designs. The windows provided with
pillared balcony are beautiful and exquisitely decorated. Originally the mosque had three domes built
above the prayer hall but the largest central dome collapsed. The complex of mosque also comprises of a
well, tank for abluations and a few ruined brick structures.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>The
square cenotaph located in front of the mosque has fluted central dome and four
corner domes.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We walked around the mosque and the large grounds in front
of it and then got back in the car to ride up a very winding road to the base
of the cable car that would take us to near the top of the mountain on which
the Moha Kacli Temple resides.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At base of the cable car was a car park full of vehicles,
mostly Force Toofan Classic which are built similar to Range Rovers. It looked like a Safari camp parking lot and
was an indication of the mass of people we would encounter climbing the 300
steps to the temple. We were the only
ones taking a cable car to the top at 11:45. At the top I was surprised, first
by monkeys, second by the line of vendor booths on both sides of the stairway,
third by the width of the stairway path and its long stretches of sloped plaza
between two or three steps, and forth by the crowd of people of all ages.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We strolled up the stairway and stopped once for a limeade
(choice of salt or sugar – I chose sugar) handmade and bottled on the spot,
until we reached the steep stairway. It
was covered and had rails on the sides and down the middle. There were stair step ledges which served as
resting places. I trudged up at a slow
steady rate stopping occasionally to let younger groups pass by. I found it less strenuous than the 120 steps
up Elephanta Island. I think because of
the railings which allowed me to pull myself along. It took us less than fifteen minutes to reach
the temple. We had to remove our shoes
for the walk through the temple past the Gods and then back to our shoe
storage. We then started down a
different set of stairs and encountered 12 donkeys with back packs being herded
up the steps. They seemed to know what
they were doing and except for occasionally stopping to eat or at least sniff
the trash left on the steps. They also
pooped which we had to watch for as we descended.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We arrived back at the cable car terminal at 13:00 to find
that it was closed from 12:50 to 13:30 for lunch. I walked around the restaurants and shops
near the terminal and Rem went shopping for a religious picture. At 13:15 they let us in the terminal but it
turned out just to queue us up.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The room was hot because they were repairing the fans. After about ten minutes the fans were turned
on and then five minutes later the cars started up again. When we reached the bottom and went looking
for Lal and the car Ram found no cell service so he had me wait in the shade
and he took off to find Lal. It wasn’t
very long before the two showed up and were on our way down the mountain.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our next stop was about thirty minutes later at the
Jambughoda Palace down a dirt road off the highway. It was a resort that billed itself as “A Home
For Nature Lovers”. The palace was set
in the Jambughoda Wildlife Sanctuary and has 19 rooms for rent. I sat outside and ordered a beer. They had a permit to sell it in the
state. The showed me the rooms and the
grounds. It was a very pleasant
place. I also ate some Mahuda fruit
which the local tribes used to make a powerful whiskey. The fruit was the size of a grape and very
sweet.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When I finished the beer we started out again to return to
the highway for a little bit and then down a side road to the Narkot village
where a wedding was being held. It is a
Rathwas village and the chief’s granddaughter’s wedding was in progress but the
chief took time to show us his lodge with its wall painting on three sides of a
large room.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>The
highly ritualistic paintings are called pithoras and are done on the walls of
tribal groups like the Rathwas. The
pithora or pithoro painting is executed by the Lakahara group with the Badva
officiating as the head priest for the associated rituals. This form of painting is done either to
celebrate an auspicious occasion or to call upon Pithora Baba to solve problems
like disease or drought.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>The
presence of Pithora Baba is considered as a solution to all the problems and
the legends and events related to this revered tribal lord dominate the pithora
(pithoro). The process begins with
treating the walls with cow dung and white chalk powder, usually brought by
unmarried girls. Powders, earth and
vegetable colors are mixed with milk and mahuda flower liquor to prepare the
dye for the pithora in colors like yellow, indigo, orange, green, vermillion,
red and silver. The brushes are prepared
from bamboo, neem and other twigs that are frayed by chewing, beating and other
methods. <o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>The
painting begins after the offerings are made to the lord. The Badvo chanting the prayers and tales goes
into a trance while the pithoras are being painted. The marriage of Pithora Baba and Pithori with
processions of vibrant dancing people and animals dominates most pithoras, they
also show life among the Rathwas like musicians, dancers, protecting, feasting,
men climbing palm trees, milking of cows, livestock at pasture, women churning
butter, bullock carts ploughing a field.
Animistic figures of bulls, horses, birds and tigers are part of each
pithoro and live sacrifices are offered near the tiger pictures. Raja Bhoj with an elephant procession is
another distinctive feature of many pithoras.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After showing us the details of his pithora painting which
was mind blowing in the detail and repeating of the figures, the chief played
us tune on a flute and then gave us a cup of his home brewed mahuda flower
liquor which was like a slightly sweet moonshine.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was interesting to see the crowd for the wedding. In one open sided tent area little girls were
sitting on the ground in neat rows with paths in between waiting for food to be
served. In another tent the boys were
standing around talking. I didn’t see
the bride and groom. As we left many
people were still arriving mostly on motor bikes.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What surprised me was the tribal village in the first
place. I did not have in my mind that tribal
villages and unique sects such as the Rathwas existed in India. I would expect to see them in Afghanistan,
Bhutan, Napal or an African country.
World travel certainly broadens one’s mind. I am thankful for the experience.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Back on the highway we stopped to get fuel and then turned
down another long road to the Champaner Heritage Resort where we spent the
night. The resort was several beautiful
old buildings. It had a swimming pool
but no Internet and no beer or wine. The
rooms were fair size with high ceilings and heavy wood furniture. The bath was one tiled room with one drain in
the corner and no shower curtain.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I was the only guest for dinner which was served in an air
conditioned tent. The dinner consisted
of rice, chicken in a red not too spicy sauce and beef chucks in a dark green
not to spicy sauce. Salad was sliced
carrots, onion, cucumber and tomatoes with no dressing. They served a tomato soup with a hint of
lime. Dessert was mixed berry ice
cream. To drink I had a bottle of
Sprite. After dinner I returned to my
room, wrote in my journal and retired at 22:00.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Tuesday, April, 22, 2014: </b>Fly Vadodara, India to
Delhi, India<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I was awakened by call of peacocks around the early day
break call to prayers. I showered and
was surprised at the hot water and the containment of the water with no shower
curtain. It was quite pleasant. Breakfast was delivered to my room at 06:15
and at 06:45 I set my bags out the door and they were wheeled to the car. We rolled out before 07:00 and arrived in
Vadodara at 07:45. During the ride I
asked Ram for more details on the Rathwas and other sects. He told me about one extreme sect that will
not eat anything grown below ground because the act of pulling say a carrot is
killing the plant. Some will not use a
knife to cut open fruits and vegetables picked from above ground.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ram dropped at the airport entrance where my bags were
checked. The x-ray monitor was training
staff and my bags were requested to be opened.
In my large checked bag they were looking for my flashlight batteries
and when they were found after digging through my stuff they said it was
O.K. I think I fell victim to a training
exercise. They then turned to my carry
on and were concerned about cables which I have in several clear plastic
pouches: one for Ethernet cable and a laptop lock cable; the other for cell
phone and iPod chargers. In the course
of re-checking my bag without the laptop and pouches they homed in on the carry
on flashlight batteries and advised me to check the bag instead of carrying it
on since I would be interrogated again at the gate. I took their advice and had to pay a baggage
fee for two bags.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Once I got my boarding pass I headed to Security and when I
got there they told me they were not processing my flight yet (it was the only
flight leaving that morning). As I
waited I saw a large sign that listed the 71 things you can’t carry on. I studied the list to see the reference to
flashlight batteries and the closest I could find was number 70: “Spillable
Batteries”. So I asked the Security
agents waiting to start checking us about flashlight batteries. At first they didn’t understand what I was
asking so I pulled the flashlight out of my vest and showed them the battery
and asked if they were O.K. in carry-ons.
They said sure they were. The
finally opened the Security line and with no carry-on I breezed right through.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We were bussed to the aircraft. It was my first time flying on Indigo
Airlines, one of the world’s fastest growing low cost airlines. They fly Airbus 320s and have ordered the
most A 320s of any airline. They use a covered
portable ramp to board the aircraft which is a lot more convenient than
stairs. Boarding went fast and every
seat was taken and we departed ten minutes early. It was a short fifty minute flight. My luggage was delivered rather quickly and I
was met by Subba from Travelite as I exited the airport.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I was booked into the Radisson Blu Hotel at the
International side of the Delhi airport.
It took a little time to get there from the Indigo Terminal on the
opposite side of the runway. The composition
of the traffic was a little different than I had experienced in Mumbai and
Cochin. The taxis were mainly HM (Hindu
Motors) Ambassador Sedans which I rarely saw in the other cities.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The hotel is very modern and it had free Wi-Fi with strong
connections in both the lobby and the room.
I checked it before noon and Steve didn’t fly in until late afternoon so
I had the room alone to try to catch up on my journal.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Steve finally arrived and gave me a rundown on the group’s
ventures in Kashmir. We met for dinner
at 19:00. It was the last meal with
Edith Ann, Bill and Mike since they flew to the states that night. We returned to our rooms before 21:00. I called Judy, wrote in my journal and went
to bed shortly after 21:00.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Wednesday, April, 23, 2014: </b>Fly Delhi, India to Port
Blair, Andaman Islands, India via Kolkata, India<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We originally set our alarms for 04:00 but realized that the
bus to the airport was scheduled for 06:45 so we reset the alarms to
05:00. I showered and shaved while Steve
went down to the lobby to see what they had set up for us. While he was gone I called Judy and found
that she was supposed have a new water dispenser delivered from Arrowhead that doesn’t
make the gurgling sound when the water is being heated. The guy didn’t show so I encouraged her to
call before they close their office. Steve
returned a short time later to report that just outside the elevators was a
table marked “grab-and-go” with a coffee machine, tea bags, muffins, power
bars, apples and bananas. I went down and
returned to the room with a cup of tea, and one of each of the items
offered. I called Judy again and she
reported that Arrowhead promised to deliver the new machine the next day. I then finished packing and wheeled my bags
to the lobby and checked out.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We departed to the airport on schedule. I was the only one that had to check-in and
get a boarding pass; the others had received them the day before. They checked their bags and proceeded to
Security. I was over the 15kg limit and
had to go over to the end of the terminal and stand in line at a cashier’s
window to pay the excess baggage fee.
When I finally got my boarding pass it was all the way to Port Blair
while the others had two boarding passes with different seat assignments. One boarding pass for Delhi to Kolkata and
the other from Kolkata to Port Blair.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There was no one at the Security station I was directed
to. I removed my laptop, put my carry-on
on the belt, my backpack on the belt and put my vest in a tray. They had me dump the contents of my carry-on
because of electrical wires. During the
dump they handled the packs of AA and AA batteries without comment and ran my
carry-on through again without any problem.
I asked why I had to dump the contents and they said their x-ray
displays my cables and charger wires too blurry to determine what they
are. At least I didn’t have to take off
my shoes, belts and watch. I found that
in India the Security agents wand everyone, even if you don’t set off an
alarm. The men and woman got through
separate queues.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After repacking my carry-on I walked to the gate. On the way I saw a store selling Lipton’s Ice
Tea. The first I had seen it for sale on
the trip so I bought a bottle. They
boarded the plane on schedule in a strange way.
The plane was parked with an “air bridge”, three floors below the
gate. We had to walk down long ramps
that switched back before we reached the air bridge. I was seated in row 30 on the aisle of a full
plane. We took off fifteen minutes after
scheduled departure. The man in from of
me was traveling with a young lady sitting across the aisle. At one point he abruptly reclined his seat pushing
my tray table into my stomach. It caught
me by surprise and I yelped and in reaction pushed back. He turned around and I asked him to please
not recline his seat. It wasn’t like he
needed to sleep, he was mostly chatting up his girlfriend who hadn’t reclined
her seat.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On the segment from Kolkata to Port Blair the couple had
different seats and no one sat in front of me.
I had a new set of seat mates who were going to the Islands on their
honey moon. It turned out that he
returned a year ago from a four year consulting assignment as a Business
Analyst at Staples in Framingham, Mass.
He impressed me as a bright young man, with good command of the English
language and was probably an effective Analyst.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When we landed in Port Blair I exited the aircraft from the
rear door. Inside the Arrivals Hall I
was met by a man with a form and showed to a seat and handed a pen to obtain
the island’s RAP (Restricted Area Permit).
On the wall about the table was a list of the rules governing our visit
to the islands.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was a very courteous greeting compared to so many foreign
airports where they have the forms on shelves and you have find one that hasn’t
been partially filled in and then fight for space to write standing up trying
to keep an eye on you carry on and being pestered by others to borrow your
pen. The information entered on the form
was already in the Indian Immigration database, but as my Systems Analyst seat
mate told the bureaucratic procedures in so many of the processes in India are
there give people employment. Three men
processed my form before I got it back.
The RAP went into great length listing where and when we could go during
our visit.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Outside Lynn had been met by a Local Tour Agent and we
loaded our bags into two vehicles and rode to the Fortune Resort Bay Island hotel,
high on a hill overlooking the bay. It
was an old building with crude furniture and was oddly laid out. The Reception and Bar was on one floor open
on three sides. The pool (saltwater) was
several floors below. We were assigned
to rooms numbering 410, 411 and 412. To
reach our room we descended down a level and then climbed up a level. The beds in Steve and my room were elevated
on a platform three steps above the entry area.
The other two had level floors.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We got to our rooms at 15:00 and had a scheduled tour set
for 16:00. Wi-Fi was available in the
Reception area for one free hour per day.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We assembled at 16:00 and Lynn told us the guide was not
going to accompany us but the driver would take us to the scheduled places. At 16:10 the driver had not arrived so the
McCuen’s left to try the hotel swimming pool.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The driver finally arrived in a 12 seat Tata van. He drove us to Carbyns Cove beach east of the
airport. There we got off and walked to
the beach. Lynn, Mary and Steve stopped
at a WWII Bunker the Japanese had the island’s prisoner’s build. The area was crowded but only a few were in
the water, but the water was full of fast boats and ski boats to hire. I walked over to a shack where there was a
sign advertising Ski Boat rides for ₹350 ($6) and Fast Boat rides for ₹300
($5). I watched the action. If you took a Ski Boat ride you would drive
with man over your shoulder. The course
would take you at high speed out to a buoy and return in about 3 minutes. The Fast Boat followed the same course and
there were 4 to 6 people in the boat and it took about 5 minutes. The times were confirmed by the boat driver’s
trying to get me to sign up.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The rest of our group was still standing at the beach
entrance, so I returned and reported what I learned. They wanted to leave so we walked across the
road to find our van. It wasn’t easy
since it was parked beyond a large tour bus.
When we found it our driver was not in it and nowhere in sight. We sat down in the shade on a wall around a
large tree at the Parking Lot exit.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We were entertained when the bus filled and tried to
leave. It was boxed in and first men
tried to help by pushing a car as far forward to the posts that marked the area
but that didn’t provide enough maneuvering room so they waited until the
drivers of two cars that were blocking the bus arrived and moved their cars.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After an hour from when he delivered us to the beach our
driver appeared and we rode on to the Water Sports Complex. A large pier and vendors sell rides in their
boats. We told our drive to continue on
to the hotel. The city was not very
large but it had excellent sports fields and arenas. One large area we passed had several hundred
kids assembled, some with flags, some in uniforms. The driver couldn’t explain what was going
on.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We returned to the hotel, soaking wet with
perspiration. Del and Linda had swam in
the hotel’s pool. It was warm salt
water.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At 19:30 we went to dinner.
In was a buffet in an air conditioned room. I had a salad of my own making and some small
sampling of Indian dishes. For dessert
I had Chocolate ice cream with mixed fruit.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After dinner I tried to connect to the Wi-Fi on my cell
phone and for some reason it would not connect.
Several people that also had Samsung Galaxy S4 smart phones that were
connected tried to clone their settings on my phone and it still would not find
the Wi-Fi network. I turned the phone
off and on and it still would not see the hotel’s network. Finally one of the businessmen told me he had
stateside service through his company account and insisted that I call my wife
on the cell network. I got through to
Judy to give her an update and warn her that I might not be able to call for a
few days. I thanked the businessman.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Steve had gone to the Business Center to use their desktop
to get his email so I went down and used it after he did to clean up my
email. Then I returned to my room and
went to bed. I had come down with a cold
and was coughing a lot.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Thursday, April, 24, 2014: </b>Tour Port Blair, Andaman
Islands, India<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I had one of the worst nights I can remember. My throat was extremely sore and I coughed
all night. Fortunately Steve removed his
hearing aids and his CPAP machine makes enough noise to lull him into a deep
sleep and he claims I didn’t wake him. I
tossed and turned and my head stuffed up so I couldn’t use my CPAP
machine. The pain in my throat was
intense. I got up at 07:00 and took a
shower and went to breakfast with the group at 07:30.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I had pulled the battery from my smartphone the night before
and was happy to see it found the Wi-Fi network when I entered the lobby. I called Judy to inform her of my terrible
night and the fact my smartphone was back in operation.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I had a bowl of Corn Flakes, toast and black tea for
breakfast.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At 08:00 our bus driver arrived and drove us to ‘The
Cellular Jail’. There we were met by a
local guide.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The jail was built by Indian prisoners in 1893 to 1906, who
the British had arrested as Revolutionaries.
It had 693 cells each one the same 13’6” x7’6”. It was made a National Memorial after the
British left India. We toured the
facility. The first stop was the
Administrative buildings with a pictorial history of the buildings and the
prisoners. Certain prisoners were
singled out and their story told.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One display described the term ‘Kala Pani’ which has become
synonymous with transportation to penal settlements beyond the sea. In Sanskrit ‘Kal’ means ‘Time or Death’ and
‘Pani’ means water so the term meant the “water of death’. The British starting sending prisoners to the
islands in 1858 and it wasn’t until 1893 that construction started on the
Cellular Prison. We saw displays of
prison management, of daily life, of punishment and the construction of the
prison.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When we left the Administration Buildings we walked past
several Memorial Monuments and seating for the Sound and Light show that is
conducted several nights per week. We
then visited the Gallows and the Condemned Cells and the building where men
were treated like oxen moving in a circle to crush pineapple into oil. From there we visited the Gallery and climbed
up to the Guard Post on the top of the cells.
From that vantage point we had a good view of the area and the hospital
next door that was still in operation.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Climbing down from the Guard Post we walked past the
Solitary Cells and the names of the men incarcerated in the jail. Our guide pointed out his Great Grandfather’s
Name.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Leaving the prison we rode down to the Water Park Complex. There we picked up a new guide named Charlie
who owns the local tour agency and was the father of the young man that gave us
the jail tour.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Inside the complex we stopped at the Tsunami Memorial in
remembrance of the tsunami from the Indonesia earthquake that hit the islands on
December 26, 2004.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We then walked to the end of a long pier and boarded a ferry
to Ross Island. I sat next to the young
married couple that I had sat next to on the flight to the islands. We had our pictures taken by Charlie. The ride took only about ten minutes.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ross Island sits just east (800m) of Port Blair at the month
of the harbor. It originally was known
as Chong-Ekee-Bood. It was small, only
.6 sq km in size. It was named by the
British after Sir Daniel Ross a British marine surveyor. The island became the natural choice for
settlers due to its commanding location.
The settlers put so much effort into recreating a home away from home that
it earned the epithet of “The Paris of the East”. It boasted an Anglican Church, homes for
British and Indian Officers, store houses, shops, printing press, hospital,
post office, tennis courts, mineral water plant, swimming pool, bakery, library
and general stores. An entire bazaar and
three separate clubs were also constructed.
About 500 personnel, including officers, troops, Indian merchants and
families lived on the island.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Charlie started to lead us on a tour of the island. The group wanted to visit the small Cafeteria
to purchase cold water. Charlie then led
us to a set of stairs up a hill to the water pond. Only Del and I followed. Charlie was disappointed but he kept to the
script and showed Del and I all the sites on the island which included the pond
where they stored rain water; the Presbyterian Church built of stone and Burma
teak, with stain glass from Italy.
Nearby was a spotted deer staring at us.
A short distance away where the remains of the Subordinate’s Club for
junior commissioned officers, non-commission officers and other British troops. It had a teak dance floor mounted on springs
with the band on an elevated platform on the west wall.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We started back towards the pier when we came upon the
honeymooners sitting on a bench in the shade in front of what was once the
Commanding Officer’s Quarters. We
stopped and chatted a bit and then moved on past a flat area that was once the
tennis courts to a recently painted building that had been the bakery. “It is the best specimen of 19<sup>th</sup>
century British architecture on the island.”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The next set of buildings was the Power House which was in
ruins. I was surprised that the Bakery
was preserved and painted but the buildings around it were not. Another ruin was the Water Distilling
Plant. A fine lattice work of roots from
a Ficus tree had grown around the building and held the crumbling structure
together. The huge boilers made of
special steel can still be observed.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Continuing our walk we came upon the swimming pool. It was a long rectangle pool, rather deep and
not very wide. It appeared to be able to
use for laps. The pool used rain water
but adjacent there was a salt water pool protected from sharks by netting.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
From the pool Charlie led us back to the Cafeteria where the
rest of the group was waiting for us. On
the way we saw a couple of maintenance workers harvesting coconuts. One worker would climb the tall tree and
attach a line to a pulley and a bunch of coconuts. He then cut the bunch from the tree and
signaled the worker on the ground to start feeding more line and lower the
bunch to the ground. A spotted dear
roamed around the downed coconuts.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When we rejoined the group they were sitting outside the
Cafeteria under the steady stares of a group of spotted deer. We returned to the dock to board the next
ferry. The honeymooners returned on the
same ferry. The tour had taken about
ninety minutes.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We boarded our bus and drove to the center of town where
Charlie left us and Kishore took over again as the tour guide. Kishore explained that his father (Charlie)
really liked leading tours of Ross Island.
He then led us through the town and across a bridge to Chatham Island
where we stopped to tour the Saw Mill. The
mill was still operational but has setup a tourist structure. The Forest Museum was our first stop. In one large room pictures and displays
documented the forest industry on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. They had pictures of Old Chatham and the damaged
caused by bombs during WWII. They also
displayed the 24 types of wood harvested and milled over the years, listed by classification
and uses. On one side of the room they
had things made from the different types of local wood. One item that was remarkable was a figure
titled “Balancing Doll” that was fashioned from one tree with long limbs as the
doll’s arms and one doll leg on a sphere with two legs below the sphere and the
doll’s other leg bent behind balancing the whole figure. It was a very ingenious design, carving and
polishing to maintain the balance and beauty.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Leaving the museum we walked past the beautiful Chatham
Memorial, sculptured in wood, dedicated in 2008, to the mill. Inside the huge building we followed the
process the logs go through to become finished lumber.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When we left the mill we rode by bus to the center of the
city and stopped briefly at a Handicraft store which sold primarily sea shell
artifacts and wood carvings. We didn’t
stay long and we returned to the hotel for lunch and a leisure afternoon.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I had delicious fish and chips for lunch. The fish was not deep fried in batter like
the British make it but rather was fried in pan creating a darker crust. The tartar sauce was a little strange but the
catsup made up for it.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My cold was not improving so I retired to my room to write
in my journal. At 15:00 I lugged my
laptop to the lobby and connected to the Wi-Fi.
I was researching some information on Google and I found the laptop
could still connect from the bar so I set up at the “Nico Bar” and ordered a
beer.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One of the emails I had received was from Bob Bonifas one of
my World Traveling colleagues who is attempting to visit every destination on
the Most Traveled People (MTP) list of 871 places to visit. I had
seen in his MTP profile that he had visited Andaman, but not Nicobar
Island. I wrote him a short note telling
him I was writing him from the Nico Bar and asked him if that would count for
visiting Nicobar Island.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When I went to dinner at 19:30 with the group I didn’t have
much of an appetite and just had soup and ice cream for dessert. Both felt good for my sore throat.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I was able to call Judy and then retired early. I had chills and slept in my down “puffy”
jacket.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Friday, April, 25, 2014: </b>Tour Port Blair, Andaman
Islands, India, outer islands<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I had another rough night.
Since my head was stuffed I couldn’t use my CPAP machine effectively. I tried to sleep sitting up in bed and at one
point I sleep for two hours in a chair hoping to reduce post nasal drip that
causes my sore throat and cough. When I
woke at 08:30 Steve was not in the room.
I was able to shower and shave and left for breakfast after he
returned. I had a bowl of Corn Flakes,
toast, pineapple juice and a cup of tea.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I was feeling better so I sat down at my laptop and started
to fill in my journal for the days I had not completed. I was able to complete Sri Lanka and the
Maldives.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At 12:30 I joined the group for lunch and had a very tasty baked
fish with lemon butter sauce, rice and steamed vegetables. The other members of our group did not
schedule any activities. The son of our
local guide came by and gave us a little memento of our visit. Mine was a ball point pen and a small key
fob.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I attempted to do some Wi-Fi work but the Internet was so
slow I returned to the room and continued filling the holes in my journal. At one point I went back to the lobby to try
to Google a site and I thought I would have a beer but it turned out that they
were out of Kingfisher beer. The
Internet was still too slow to get the information I was looking for so I
returned to my room and kept writing.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We went to dinner at 19:30.
Del and Linda skipped the dinner.
I had a bowl of soup. It was
clear hot water with a slight flavor of something but it felt good on my sore
throat. I tried the chicken with
marginal luck to get meat off the bones.
They had crab in a sauce but I couldn’t figure out how one could get
meat out of the shell. That was the last
night in India.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
I talked to Judy after dinner and the connection was bad and
tried to see some email on my smart phone but again the Internet was too slow
so I return to the room and retired at 21:00.
My travels in India had come to an end.
The next day I would start a tour of Bangladesh.<o:p></o:p></div>
Edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03034021752003929779noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2230692068076603436.post-40394531763250635362014-06-05T22:23:00.002-07:002014-06-05T22:23:53.192-07:00Sri Lanka & Maldives Tour – April 2014<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Overview:</b> <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My India area tour was scheduled with Advantage Travel &
Tours, Poway, California to complete my visits to all the countries in
Asia. The trip combined set tours by
Advantage Travel to Western India with a pre-tour to Sri Lanka and the Maldives
Islands and a post-tour to Bangladesh, Myanmar and Laos. This journal documents the tour of Sri Lanka
and the Maldives Islands with Lynn Bishop, Mary Warren and Steve Mathews. I had roomed with Lynn on many trips in the
past and had traveled with Mary on the North Korea trip. On this trip I roomed with Steve Matthews
from Orleans, Vermont, who I had never met but had been a longtime friend of
Lynn’s.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Tuesday, April, 01, 2014: </b>Fly Lax to Singapore via
Narita, Japan<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I had a comfortable 11:20 flight scheduled on United
Airlines in a B-787-8. My ride picked me
up at 08:30 and we encountered only moderate traffic on the drive to LAX. There must have been an accident on the 101 in
Calabasas since there were only a few cars on the 101 when we entered in
Woodland Hills. The 405 had its usual
slow moving commuter traffic. The driver
had picked me up on may occasions in the past and we had a nice chat on the way
to the airport.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Check-in was a breeze and I elected to use the Terminal 6
security entry since it had full body scans where Terminal did not. Other than the longer walk since I had to
return to Terminal 7 for my flights gate the security check was a breeze. I
have TSA Pre and didn’t have to remove my computers, shoes or belt.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I spent some time in the United Club waiting for boarding
time. When it came time to board I was
one of the first in the number 2 line. I
had selected a window seat since all the available aisle seats in Economy Plus
had passengers next to them but several window seats had a vacant seat between
the aisle and the window. This was my
first flight on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
The overhead bid was large and curved so when you put your carry on in
the bin and close it the bag slides to the rear and whe you open the bin the
bag slides forward. (Very
convenient) A video touch screen on the
back of each seat contains the controls for not only the videos but also the
lights and attendant lights. The windows
do not have shades and a button below the window controls the color of the
window supposedly enabling you to turn the window black. The windows all had a green color when I
boarded. In flight I was on the south
side of the aircraft with bright sun shining on me the whole trip. I could darken the window but not completely
which resulted in a spot light effect on my seat as the sun reflected off the
wing surface. I don’t know if it was a
mechanical failure or just that you just can’t “close” the window completely.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The seat was very comfortable and with an empty seat next to
me I was very comfortable. Since this
was the third long flight for me on a United aircraft in the last 30 days, I
had seen all the movies and TV shows I was interested in. I did watch A.C.O.D. and then turned to
watching videos on my cell phone and eventually on my laptop.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
They served two meals and a snack on the flight. The first was chicken and rice, the snack a
ham and cheese sandwich and the third a breakfast of eggs and sausage.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My seat mate was an US Army Intelligence Specialist of
Japanese descent. We had some
interesting conversations about the current world situations.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Wednesday, April, 02,
2014:</b> Arrive Singapore<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We arrived in Narita, Japan 25 minutes early. I had to pass through a security check point
before entering the departure area. It
was a little bit of a pain since I had to remove my shoes, belt, and watch and
still got padded down. From the check
point I walked to the United Club to wait several hours before my flight to
Singapore. I was able to access the
Wi-Fi and clean out some emails. When
they called my flight I proceeded to the gate and saw Lynn and Mary and was
introduced to Steve whom I will be rooming with on most of the trip. Steve was from Vermont and had traveled with
Lynn a lot but not with Bob and Cathy.
The flight was boarding so I got in line.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On the flight I had an inside aisle seat with an unoccupied
seat next to me. I watched the movie on
Princess Diana about the period after her separation and divorce from Prince
Charles. It documented her romance with
a Pakistani <span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">heart surgeon Hasnat Khan </span>and implied that she used a
publicized romance with Dodi Fayed to make the doctor jealous. It was not something I knew about.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After the meal and the movie I feel asleep for several hours
when I woke up the served a light snack and we landed in Singapore right on
schedule at 10 minutes after midnight.
Processing through Immigration was easy and it didn’t take long to
retrieve my checked bag and I exited the Baggage area and waited for the other
three. Once we were all together we
walked to the hotel which was in the terminal.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It turned out that Steve also has a CPAP machine which was
larger than mine. We found that there
was an electrical out let beside each bed so we had no problems plugging in our
machines.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Thursday, April, 03, 2014: </b>Fly Singapore to Colombo,
Sri Lanka, Tour Colombo<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Steve showers before bed so I woke before he did in the
morning for our 09:55 flight to Colombo.
We had breakfast and checked out of the hotel and took a short walk to
the check-in counters. The hotel had
been very convenient. We could not
process through Security until one hour before scheduled departure which
surprised me. The four of us sat outside
the Security area until the monitor flashed that we could enter. Security was easier than Narita but I still
had to take off my shoes. The gate area
was large and an Airbus A-380 was just pushing back at the next gate. I guess the over 500 passengers on the 380
necessitates controlling their processing through Security.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our flight to Sri Lanka was on a Sri Lankan Airways
A-320-200. In contrast to the previous
aircraft it was very much smaller than the 380.
The flight was lightly occupied with almost each passenger having two
empty seats next to them. I slept a
little on the three and one half hour flight to Colombo to make up for the
short sleep had had in Singapore.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When we landed in Colombo we were bused to the Arrivals
Hall. As I entered the hall I saw a desk
for “Visa On Arrival”. I had processed a
visa on line and had a document proving it.
We expected to have to pay a $100 and give them a couple of passport
sized photos but when I showed the agent the email document he told me to the go
directly to the passport control desk.
There they looked at the email and stamped my passport without my having
to pay any additional fees or give them a photo. Surprised by how easy and quick it took I
proceeded to retrieve my bag and exit the baggage area.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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When we exited the baggage area we did not have to have our
luggage x-rayed contrary to what I have found is often the case in many
countries. Our Sri Lanka tour guide was
waiting with a sign for William Bishop (Lynn’s given name). The guide’s name was Chandana and he
introduced himself to us in a quiet voice and led us to the outside curb where
we waited as he retrieved his Nessan Caravan from the parking lot. The Caravan had three rows of seats and
enough room in back of the seats to store three of our large bags and our two
carry-ons had to be stored on the back seat.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The airport is located 40km from the city and an expressway
leads into the city. We could barely
hear Chandana’s commentary on the drive.
He drove slowly but as we got closer to the city center the traffic
increased to a very slow moving jam with dozens of tuk tuks dodging in and out
of lanes between trucks, buses and passenger cars. We arrived at The Kingsbury Hotel around
13:00. It was a large new hotel (opened
in December 2012) with several meetings going on. One of which was the rollout of the Samsung
Galaxy 5 smart phone which peaked my interest.
Unfortunately I couldn’t get in the auditorium to see the demonstration.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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We checked in but were not assigned a room and were told
that the rooms would not be available until 14:00. The bell boys had unloaded the van and
Chandana had departed when Lynn and I realized they had not removed our carry-ons
from the back seat. It was a slight
concern but we knew he was going to be returning to take us on a city tour at
15:30. As we walked around the hotel
waiting for our room keys, Chandana appeared.
He had just taken the van to the parking lot. Lynn told him about the carry-ons and he
retrieved them before we got our room key.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
They didn’t have a room with twin beds for Steve and I so
they assigned us to a room with a roll-a-way and one king size bed. It was crowded but for one night we could put
up with it. I slept on the roll-a-way.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At 15:30 we met with Chandana and he drove us around the
city for a couple of hours. The traffic
was bad and the tour was slow. Chandana
did not comment very often about what we were seeing and Steve who was riding
in the front seat had to ask him about various sites we passed. The answers were in a quiet voice which Steve
had to relay to us in the back seats.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The city is crowed with several
million people and hundreds of tuk tuks darting around. We saw a lot of busy light industry, markets,
trucks and busses. Amount the sights we
saw was the Dutch Reform church built in 1749; the central bus station, the
railroad station, the military headquarters buildings, a Hindu shrine; the city
hall that looks like a cross between the US capital building and the white
house; Independence Memorial Hall; several old churches, and parks.<o:p></o:p></div>
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There was a long water front but no one swimming. The waves were the type to entice surfing but
we speculated that there must be a strong under tow that is the reason no one
is allowed to swim. Our hotel was next
to the old Fort which was converted into government buildings. It was a massive sight facing the water and a
row of cannons faced the water in front of the buildings.<o:p></o:p></div>
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We were told that dinner was served at 18:30 giving us an
hour after our tour to unpack and freshen up.
At 18:30 we met in the lobby and were told by the dining room staff that
they would not open until 19:00. The
Cricket World Cup was on the TV and Sir Lanka was playing in the semifinals
against the West Indies. The bar furniture
was arranged in rows facing a large screen TV.
I had a beer at the bar waiting for the dining room to open and watching
the cricket team warm-ups. I wish I had
a better understanding of how the matches are played and the strategy taken to
win matches. About the time I finished
my beer they opened the dining room. In
rushed a very large tour group. The
dinner was buffet style and the tour group quickly got in line for the food. They focused on the salad bar so I went to
the main dish section where I selected one or two pieces of meat or fish from
each offering to get a flavor for the spices used. Some were too spicy for my taste and some of
the samples had too many bones for my liking.
When I finished with the samples I returned to get a balanced meal of
vegetables and rice with the lamb and mint sauce. For dessert I took a small sample of each type
of dishes on display. Overall it was a
good meal and I retired to the room to get ready for the next day’s activities.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Friday, April, 04, 2014: </b>Tour the <span lang="EN">ancient city of</span><span lang="EN"> </span>Polonnaruwa
UNESCO World Heritage Site<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I slept comfortably, although the bed was short and my feet
stuck out over the end of the bed and woke at 05:00 to my smart phone alarm and
for some mysterious reason it would not stop ringing until I shut off the
phone. Consequently I woke Steve who had
planned to sleep another hour. We went
to breakfast at 06:30. It was a full
buffet breakfast with both western and Asian food choices. I had an egg over and fruit. None of my usual orange and yogurt was
available.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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At 07:30 we departed the hotel for an eight hour drive to
the center of the country and a visit to the UNESCO World Heritage Site of
Polonnaruwa.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Along the way we found the road surface to be smooth but
slow going with a lot of traffic in the city and for over an hour’s drive out
of the city. Once the traffic thinned
out we began to see rice fields, farmland and groves of coconut, banana, figs,
cashews and teak trees. There were still
a lot of businesses and homes along the way until we turned off of Route 1 to
Route 6. The pace picked up but we were
often slowed down behind trucks, buses and/or tuk tuks.<o:p></o:p></div>
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\</div>
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We were surprised to see groupings of auto parts shops. Some villages had a dozen or more next to
each other on both sides of the road.
They didn’t really compete with each other since one would have just
doors, another front ends, another bumpers, etc. Other villages specialized in vegetable
stands, and others with many clothing stores.
At one point we stopped and purchased cashews’ from a road side stand.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As we approached the city of Kurunegala we saw a huge white
sitting Buddha statute on top of a mountain overlooking the city. Past the city we stopped for a break at Saruketha,
a Trip Advisor tourist stop, where we were encouraged to purchase a fruit drink
and sit in a rustic setting were we were joined by other tour bus groups. I had a mix fruit drink which was banana
based and very tasty.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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We continued riding through farm land and groves of various
trees. We saw our first elephants at a
tourist stop where you could take a ride on an elephant. We didn’t stop but continued on to the
Rukmali Hotel & Restaurant near Habarana Lake to have lunch. It was a buffet lunch and we were surprised
that there was plenty to eat that wasn’t too spicy. The dining area was outside, set in a grove
of coconut trees, with a corrugated tin roof.
At one point a coconut fell from a tree on to the tin roof. The sudden load bang sounded like a bomb had
gone off. Even the restaurant help was
startled by the noise.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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In Habarana we turned off Route 6 to Route 11 stopped by Lake
Minneriya in a Nature Preserve were we took photographs of a large standing
Buddha. A few minutes later we entered
the city of Polonnaruwa Archaeological Sites and UNESCO World Heritage
Site. It was a huge complex. We first stopped at the city center which was
fortified by wide and high brick ramparts on all four sides. We visited ruins of the Royal Palace, the
council chamber and several other buildings.
The palace was once seven stories high, built by King Parakramabahu the
Great during the period 1153 to 1186 AD.
East of the palace was the stone pillars of the council chamber. Outside the city wall was the remains of the
royal bath.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I walked around the grounds and ruins with a large group of
school children dressed in blue and white uniforms and then it started to
rain. I quickly returned to the van and
retrieved my rain jacket and continued on my tour of the site. The other members of our group had returned
to the van so I quickly finished seeing all the ruins and joined them.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We rode through the large complex and stopped to take
pictures of ruins from the vehicle. When
the rain stopped we visited a site which had a number of monkeys running
around. Leaning against a tree was a
bicycle and one of the monkeys was having a grand time sitting on the handle
bars. I took one picture which looked
like he was steering the bike and another with him balancing on the end of the
handle bars.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We continued on our tour of the site passing a troop of
school girls in white dresses and blue neckties marching back to their bus from
the Gal-Vihara site. The site contains three
Buddha’s carved in the stone of a hill site cave. They display a standing, sitting and a Buddha
lying down. It was believed that at one
time the images were in individual shrine rooms but now they are in one
connected display. The standing Buddha
had an unusual position of his hands.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Walking back to our vehicle from the site we were surrounded
by playful monkeys. Our next stop was
the Tivanka Imagae House. The word
Tivanka means three bends and the Buddha image inside was bent in three positions at the shoulder,
hip and knee.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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The next stop was at the Lotus Pond, built in the form of a
full blown lotus flower. Documentation
of the area states that eight Lotus Ponds were built but not all of them have
been excavated. That was our last stop
in the Polonnaruwa World Heritage Site.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We then rode back to Habarana and stopped at the Cinnamon
Lodge to spend the night. Along the way
we passed a number of military camps.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Cinnamon Lodge was a large complex of buildings and I
found it a challenge to find the building with our room in it within the maze
of buildings in the complex.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Dinner was a buffet and I am not sure what I ate but as with
the previous meals I sampled many different dishes to test for how hot the
spice sauce was in each dish. Again the
chicken pieces had bones in them.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After dinner we returned to our room once I found the
correct building, wash clothes and retired.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Saturday, April, 05, 2014: </b>Tour UNESCO World Heritage
Sites<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I rose at 06:00, showed, shaved and we went to breakfast at
07:00 and once I found my building, I set my packed check-in bag outside my
door and then returned to pack up my carry-on.
When I left the room my bag had already been picked up by a
bellman. I checked out and we boarded
the bus at 08:00.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We rode south from Habarana on Route 6 and then turned off to
take a road to Sigiriya Rock, a UNESCO World Heritage site, built by King
Kassapa in the 5th century AD. It’s also
called 'the Lion Rock' or the 'Rock Fortress'.
lt rises more than 1000 ft from the jungle and the area is surrounded by
a moat and we observed that there is active archaeological digging in the area.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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We didn’t stay long and returned to the main highway and
stopped at a Gem Store where we were shown how they mine gems in Sir Lanka. Inside the store they had recreated a mine
shaft and tunnel and after showing us a film on the gem mining we waked through
a mine tunnel into the area where craftsmen were cutting, polishing and
creating jewelry. Then we entered the
showroom where they sold the gems and jewelry.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Next door was a store that produced silk clothes. They had a rack of beautiful ties with little
elephant figures on them. I thought of
buying one for a Democratic friend but I figured it would not be appreciated.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Back on the highway we rode past a huge wholesale vegetable
market with trucks than must supply the small roadside stands with vegetables
that were not grown by the family running the stand.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Our next stop was in Dambulla at the UNESCO World Heritage
site, the Golden Rock Cave Temple of Dambulla, dating back to the first century
BC. The temple consists of a series of 5
caves containing many statues and paintings including a 47 ft. long statue of
Buddha. On top of the caves is a huge
gold Buddha. The group decided to not
climb the stairs to visit the caves. The
area had a lot of cute monkeys.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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About twenty minutes down the road we stopped at a Spice Garden
at Matale where we were given a tour of different Sri Lanka spices and given
samples of the products made from the spices.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our last stop of the day was at a huge Hindu shrine in
Kandy. I could not believe the number of
colorful figures affixed to the towering structure and on the roofs of the
buildings at the base of the structure.
It was a great photo shoot.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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We finished the day early because of the shorten stay at
Sigiriya Rock where the group didn’t want to spend the effort to climb the rock
and at the Golden Rock Cave Temple for the same reason and checked into the
Kandy, Cinnamon Citadel. The room was
nice and I tried to catch up on my journal.
We had a buffet dinner at 19:30 and retired early.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Sunday, April, 06, 2014: </b>Tour UNESCO World Heritage
Sites<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We elected to start our tour at 08:30. I arose at 06:00 and Steve and I went to
breakfast at 07:30. It was a full buffet
but no whole oranges, so I had a single egg, bacon and some fruit. WE sat on the terrace overlooking the
river. It was a beautiful tranquil scene
with a single boat ferrying a passenger across the river.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When I returned to my room I was able to call Judy on
Vonage. I packed my bags and was closing
down my laptop when I discovered the Red Sox were tied in a game against the
Milwaukee Bucks. I listened to WEEI as
David Ortiz pinch hit to no avail and two pitchers struck the Bucks and then I had
to go. We departed the hotel at 08:30
and ten minutes out I realized I had left my light weight vest in the room’s
closet so we returned to the hotel, I retrieved the vest and we were back on
the road by 08:55.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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We rode into the heart of the city of Kandy, past the large
Queen’s Hotel and parked at the Sri Dalada Maligawa Sacred Grounds. As we walked to the entrance we passed a
Christian Church which was conducting Sunday service. It was interesting to hear the organ and
choir singing a Christian hymn so close to a Buddhist temple. Just past the entrance to the church I took a
picture of a white roster standing on the passenger’s seat of a tuk-tuk as
though he was waiting the driver to return and drive him to his destination. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Inside the sacred grounds we walked a long path to a cluster
of buildings. The main building was the “Temple
of the Tooth Relic of Buddha”.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>“Since
ancient times, the relic has played an important role in local politics because
it is believed that whoever holds the relic holds the governance of the
country. Kandy was the last capital of the Sri Lankan kings and is a UNESCO
world heritage site partly due to the temple.”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After removing our shoes (I put on airline socks) we entered
the temple and found a large crowd. They
had separate lines for Foreign Tourists from the locals and we passed through
the various rooms. It was difficult to
get good pictures of the relic and the Buddha statues because of the
crowd. One interesting scene was a
Buddha carved from a clear gem. Next
door to the Temple were a museum and the King’s Palace at Kandy. We visited the museum and the three-story
Alut Maligawa, a newer and larger shrine hall displaying dozens of sitting
Buddha’s. Along the ceiling were
pictures documenting the life of Buddha.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Outside the shrine we walked past the 19th-century Audience
Hall, an open-air pavilion with stone columns carved to look like wooden
pillars. From there we entered the Rajah
Tusker Hall which houses the stuffed remains of Rajah, the Maligawa tusker
(elephant) who died in 1988. The
description of the elephant is as follows:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>Rajah,
a Sri Lankan tusker belonged to the Sri Dalada Maligawa, Kandy. He participated at the annual Esala procession
in Kandy for about 50 years and carried the sacred casket in the final Randoli
perehera from 1950 to 1987. On August
20, 1986 former Sri Lankan President J. R. Jayewardene declared Raja as a
national treasure, in recognition of his valuable services to the religion and
culture of Sri Lanka.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We returned to the vehicle and rode to the Royal Botanic
Gardens, Paradeniya. It was used as a
pleasure garden by ancient kings and was proclaimed as a Royal Garden in
1780. In 1821 it was established by the
British as the introduction of economically important plants to Sri Lanka. We spent about an hour and one half walking
around the garden and stopping for a cold drink. Steve demonstrated his talent in Origami by
making a ring out of a one dollar bill that has the face of George Washington
in place of a ring stone. He gave it to
our waiter as a tip.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
From the Gardens we rode up the mountains on a winding road
with panoramic views of the valley and the vegetable farms that covered the
terrain. At one point we stopped to
purchase a bag of Jack Fruit from a roadside stall. It was delicious to eat the membrane around
the nut (but not the nut). As we rode
higher we started to see tea plantations and soon the hills were covered with
just tea plants and tea factories.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We stopped at the Glenloch Tea Factory and had a tour of the
factory, an explanation of the process and a cup of black tea and a cup of
green tea. I was surprised to learn the
details of the leaf picking and the process, especially the fact that Green Tea
is naturally 98% decaffeinated because it does not go through a fermentation
process.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Leaving the factory we rode to a restaurant with a panoramic
view of the valley and a series of waterfalls.
We had a buffet lunch for $9. I
am not sure what I exactly ate but it satisfied my appetite and was not too
spicy.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We were in the mountains over 6,000 feet at some
points. After lunch we rode on to the
Heritance Tea Factory, Kandapola, Nuwara Eliya.
It was accessible off the main highway on a single lane 4km drive up a
mountain. It was a challenge to allow
the buses and other vehicles coming down the mountain to pass. The factory was converted into a hotel with
nice rooms with balconies overlooking the hills of tea plants.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The air was clear but the hills had a lot of fog and we were
greeted at the hotel reservation with a warm face cloth rather than cold face
cloths that were given us at the hotels the previous days. They also served us hot tea rather than the
cold fruit juices we had experienced at previous registrations.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The elevator to our floor was an open cage freight elevator
and the atrium in the middle of the hotel had a massive pulley system
demonstrating the equipment used in the processing of tea.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our assigned room was not large and had no electrical
outlets on the wall of the bed headboards.
There was actually only one available outlet in the room and that was
under the desk so I had to use my power strip at the outlet and then string an extension
cord across the room and between the beds to provide outlets for our CPAP
machines.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We had a heavy afternoon rain so I didn’t get to explore the
hotel grounds or use the large balcony outside the room. The room had no air conditioning unit and
just opening the balcony doors provided ample cooling. Steve knapped while I wrote in my journal
until dinner time at 19:30.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We joined Lynn and Mary for a buffet dinner. The main attraction at the buffet was a roast
pig in pineapple. The salad bar was
great and I made my own and after eating the salad had a sampling of the
various meat and fish in various sauces and curry. A slice of pig was delicious. The dessert table had small servings of cakes
and ice cream. Overall it was a nice
dinner and I didn’t over indulge.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When I returned to my room I was able to call Judy on Vonage
and I retired at 21:00.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Monday, April, 07, 2014: </b>Visit "The Bridge on
the River Kwai" film location and return to Colombo<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We arose early and went to breakfast at 06:30 when it opened. It was a buffet, but slightly different than
the previous hotels. I was able to get a
whole orange and my usual one egg over.
The breads were different and a lot of Indian food and spices were
offered.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Back in our room I was able to connect with Judy and then
took pictures from the balcony. The air
was clear and I had some good shots of the valley below and the mountains
above. We departed the hotel at
08:00. The narrow road down the mountain
was a challenge every time we encountered a vehicle driving up the
mountain. At one point we had to back up
to allow a truck to pass so close a passenger in the middle of the front seat
of the truck was able to shake my hand.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The tea pickers were starting to work and several hill sides
were dotted with the large white bags the pickers carry on their backs. Eventually we reached the two lane road and
rode past Tea Factories into Nuwara Eliya and past the golf course to a gas
station were Chandana refueled the van.
Leaving the gas station we rode past the Grand Hotel which was once the
President’s Palace. We then started to
ride down the mountains on a switch back road.
The views of the farms below were impressive. The gardens were very neatly terraced with
straight rows between the growing crops.
Even the cow pastures were terraced very neatly.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We passed not only vegetable farms but many more tea
plantations and several large tea factory complexes and of course many road
side vegetable stands. It appeared that
at every wide switch back curve there was a vegetable stand. The Mackwoods properties were the largest and
they had a Museum and a Factory under the name Mackwoods Labookellie Tea
Centre, est. 1841.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Around 09:15 a young man tried to flag us down to purchase
flowers he held in his hand. We rode on
without stopped and rounded several curves and he appeared again and we rode
past and after another set of curves he was there and another set of curves he
was there. Finally the fifth time he
appeared in front of us Steve had Chandana stop and he gave the young man $5
for persistence. It was one of the most
remarkable road side sales pitches I had ever witness. Steve didn’t take the flowers. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At the town of Kothmale, Chandana decided to take a short
cut and we rode down more winding roads but with less traffic, past the
Kothmale Reservoir, the Sri Lankan Military Joint Services Language Training
Institute, across a narrow bridge to Nawalapitiya and finaly to our first stop
at Kitulgala, the location of the film “Bridge On The River Kwai”. There we walked down a step path through the
woods and past several homes to first the spot where the film crew constructed
a road to bring in the equipment to build the bridge and the railroad. From that point we walked on along the river
to the point where the bridge had been constructed and blown up. I climbed down the steep stone steps and path
to edge of the river and the remains of the bridge foundation. The water was low but I could picture were
William Holden swam out to set off the dynamite. The old lady guide explained that a tunnel
was built on the other side that allowed the train engineer to escape but 100
locals dressed in Japanese Army uniforms had to fall into the river. No one was hurt.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After we returned to the van we rode a short distance to the
Kithulgala Rest House to have lunch. For
the first time in the country we had an a’ la carte meal. I had a tuna sandwich and ice tea.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We departed the Rest House at 13:00 and rode for three
uneventful hours back to Colombo and The Kingsbury Hotel. The ride was a lot different approaching the
city from the southeast and the mountainous terrain than the ride on Friday
when we rode on rather flat terrain northeast of the city.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
\</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The closer we got to the city the more the business looked
the same on both routes there were numerous auto parts stores with displays of
the frontends of Japanese cars at one shop, bumpers at another, seats at
another, wheels and hubcaps, rear doors, side doors, and truck cabs.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Even though we thought the people drove dangerously we saw only
one accident in our ride around the country and few vehicles with dents or
scratches. I was amazed!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We checked into the hotel at 16:00 and they had a room with
twin beds for Steve and I instead of the King size bed with a rollaway we had
on the previous visit. I was able to
print out the Lakshadweep Entry Permit that Cathy had sent me in case the
airline question our approval to fly to Agatti Island on the 11<sup>th</sup>.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In my room I rearranged my luggage and carry-on for flying
and wrote in my journal. We had dinner
at 19:30 and helped Steve complete a questionnaire for the Sri Lankan Tour
Agency. We remarked on the form that
Chandana was too soft spoken and didn’t volunteer information. He appeared to know the facts but we had to
ask him to explain things. He was an
excellent driver.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After helping Steve fill out the form I made myself a salad
and had to asked for balsamic vinegar ey did deliver to my table. For the main I had sweet and sour
chicken. They had a taco bar set up and
Lynn had them make several. He reported
that they were very good and had the best taco meat he had ever had. The dessert bar was extensive but didn’t
offer anything unusual and only one flavor of ice cream.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When I returned to my room I found that the Wi-Fi would not
allow me to call on Vonage or access any videos. I remember that on the previous stay I had
selected the high speed offering for a $10 fee which the desk clerk waived
because of the twin bed foul up on the room.
I decided to not trust that it would be waived again so I accepted the
email only option. Judy would have been
with her student any way. I retired at
21:00.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Tuesday, April, 08, 2014: </b>Fly Colombo to Male,
Maldives<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At 01:20 I was awaken by a phone call and I thought it was
my alarm and hung up on the caller. The
area code indicated that it was a call from the New Brunswick area of New
Jersey and I figured it was a recruiter so I didn’t return the call. I went back to sleep and awoke to my alarm at
02:00 to shower shave and pack for our 03:30 departure for the airport.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Chandana arrived on time and it didn’t take us long to ride
to the Bandaranaike International Airport which was 21 miles north of the
city. We checked in without any problems
and passed through Immigration with a short wait. Security was at the gate. We were so early the gate was not open and we
sat in the hallway to wait until an hour before departure. There were kiosks throughout the terminal
with free internet email service but no free Wi-Fi. I checked my mail while we waited.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When the gate security check point opened I had to remove my
watch and shoes but not my laptop or belt.
After setting off the alarm I was given a quick pat down and checked in
for the flight. We waited in the gate
area because the seats were more comfortable than in the hall.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The called the boarding by blocks of rows with those in the
back called first. The plane was an
A-340-300 which has double isles and I was assigned 25D in back of Steve. No one was assigned the seat next to me. I watched some TV shows and a breakfast was
served. The flight only took an hour and
fifteen minutes. We had to walk across
the ramp from the aircraft to the Arrival Hall.
Immigration processing took some time due to the large number of
passengers on the plane. No visa was
required and it didn’t take long for me to process once my turn came. Still as long as I took to process my bag had
not arrived on the carousel. Two
carousels were being used and one shut down without my bag coming through. I walked over to the entry point on the other
carousel and my bag was one of the last to arrive. I then had to stand in line to get the bag
x-rayed. I picked the wrong line because
the belt kept stopping as customs agents kept asking the x-ray monitor to come
look at items that were being retrieved from a passenger’s suitcase.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When I finally exited the Baggage Claim I saw the group had
already been greeted by a hotel representative and they were waiting for
me. My bag was loaded on a cart with the
others and we exited the terminal to a dock and boarded a small ship that
ferried us from Hulhule Island with the Ibrahim Nasir International Airport to Male
Island where the Trader Hotel was located.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The high speed ship took less than five minutes to reach
Male Island and less than five minutes to walk to the Traders Hotel. We registered at 09:00 and were told our
rooms would not be ready until 14:00.
They served us drinks (no alcohol is allowed on the islands) and we sat
in the lobby. I was attempting to call
Judy. I was able to connect but the
connection was poor and Judy couldn’t hear half off what I was saying so we
terminated the call and I emailed what I wanted to say.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At 10:00 I suggested that we walk around town. The hotel was on the north side of the
island, one short block from Boduthakurufaanu Magu, the street that circles the
island along the water front. We exited
the hotel and walked south to Medhuziyaarai Magu to the People's Majlis (the
unicameral legislative body of the Maldives) building and then turned west past
the Hukuru Miskiy, (the Friday Mosque).
We entered a Stationary Store to see if they sold paper that Steve could
use to make origami figures. Exiting the
store we walked past the Presidents Residence; the National Library; the
Prison; the Islamic Center; and turned into the Sultan Park. The park had two very large groups of school
children on two sides so we exited and walked to Chaandhanee Magu, which we
were told had numerous tourist shops. At
the corner Steve was approached by a local shop owner attempting to get us to
visit his shop which was north on the street.
We turned south on our plan to see Majeedhee Magu, the main street that
ran east-west across the middle of the island.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Lynn and Mary decided to return to the hotel and Steve and I
entered a book store where he found pads of colorful paper designed to be used
for origami. We past the National Museum
and past a fire truck extinguishing a fire in a pile of rubble in a vacant
lot. When we reached Majeedhee Magu, we
turned around and walked north on Chaandhanee Magu, past the tourist shops, to the
water front where we turned west to the markets. We entered the vegetable and were offered a
sample of a coconut candy that is wrapped in dried leaf to look like a
cigar. It was very tasty.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We walked all the isles in the market including ones with dried
fish and then crossed the street to the fish market were rows of fresh caught
tuna were on display for sale. The tuna
was in many sizes from a foot to three feet long. Some of the vendors were selling the raw meat
rather than the whole fish. A few vendors
sold other species of fish.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Leaving the fish market we returned to the vegetable market
and I bought a roll of the coconut candy and Steve a bag of nuts that tasted
like almonds. Following our purchases we
walked back to the hotel. It was noon
and we decided to eat lunch. Lynn and
Mary thought the lunch was going to be served on the top floor so we took an
elevator up to the 12<sup>th</sup> level only to discover that lunch would be
served in the Lime Dining Room on the 1<sup>st</sup> floor. We rode the elevator back to the Lime Dining
Room and found that the buffet had not yet been set up but the drinks were set
up so we had a drink and waited until the buffet was ready only to be trumped
by a large group coming in from a conference.
After they got their food we got ours.
I was able to make a big salad and had a few pieces of beef on rice and
two small pieces of fried fish.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After lunch we returned to the lobby to see if our rooms
were available. Steve and my room was
available so before 14:00 we finally were able to unpack and rest in our
room. It was of fair size with twin beds
and an outlet on the wall between the beds.
I plugged in my power strip and we both were able to connect our CPAP
machines.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Steve washed his clothes while I wrote in my journal. He then took a nap and I took a walk around
the island. I turned west out of the
front door of the hotel on Ameer Ahmed Magu and then turned north on Lotus
Goalhi to Boduthakurufaanu Magu and then followed it all the way to the south
east end of the island. Along the way I
passed many small ferry boats, the ferry terminal, several parks, and stopped
at the Artificial Beach where I observed Muslim ladies in the water in full black
headdress. Crazy!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At one park there was a soccer game and in another
volleyball games. The girls were wearing
black headdresses with bright orange tops.
It was a very colorful scene. The
next beach I can upon was Varunulaa Raalhugandu at the southwest tip of the
island. It was getting dark so I headed
backon Moonlight Hingun and some back alleys until I reached Majeedhee Magu and
turned west and then took some alleys to get back to Ameer Ahmed Magu and
eventually the hotel.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The four of us went to dinner to a restaurant recommended by
the Concierge. It was the Aioli
Restaurant, just a short walk from the hotel.
The group wanted Pizza. I had a Bolognese
Pizza. It was the first time and it
wasn’t bad. The service was not timely
and it took a long time for us to get the bill.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We returned to the hotel after dinner and I called Judy and
then washed some clothes and went to bed.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Wednesday, April, 09,
2014:</b> Tour Male, Maldives<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I slept soundly until after 09:00. The short nights had caught up with me. After taking a shower I discovered that my
clothes had not completely dried hanging in the closet. I plugged in the hair dryer and finished
drying them.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At 09:45 I joined Steve, Mary and Lynn for breakfast. They had already finished and were conversing
with one of the waiters who spoke excellent English. He was a native of one of the outer islands
but had lived on Male for over ten years.
Steve showed him pictures of some of the fruits we had seen in the
market and he explained what they were and how they were eaten.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We returned to our room at 10:30 and after straitening up
Steve and I decided to take a walk around the island. We left the hotel at 11:10 and headed west on
Ameer Ahmed Magu until it ended at Majeedhee Magu which we then walked until it
reached the sea wall and Boduthakurufaanu Magu.
After some picture taking we walked south until Boduthakurufaanu Magu
ended at the commercial area. We
encountered a Driving School and watched the student drivers drive a sort of obstacle
course in small cars while those learning to drive Honda motor bikes weaved
around them.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We walked around the ferry terminal and down an alley to the
Football Association’s practice fields.
There we walked south to Boduthakurufaanu Magu and continued to circle
the island walking past the beaches and parks I had walked past the day
before. At Artificial Beach we saw a
woman in black Muslim in the water with her children. We completed the walk at 12:45. I was soaking wet with perspiration and when
I returned to my room I washed out my clothes again.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At 14:00 we rendezvoused with Mary and Lynn for lunch. I had our new found friendly waiter make me a
pot of ice tea. Here to fore when I have
ordered ice tea it came in a glass half filled with liquid surgar and slices of
limes. This time I got a full pot of tea
with a tall glass of ice. It was
great! For lunch I made a salad to my
liking with balsamic dressing and then had a few pieces of beef in a sauce over
rice and two pieces of deep fried chicken with a spicy coating. Thank God for the ice tea!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We were the last to eat lunch and they started to set up for
dinner so we returned to our rooms for a 16:00 scheduled tour. We met our local guide, Yasaar, in the lobby
at 16:00. Lynn skipped the tour. Yasaar spoke excellent English and provided
detail commentary on the sites we visited.
He described the People's Majlis building and then the Medhuziyaaraiy
which is the tomb of Maulana Al-Hafiz Abul Barakaath Yoosuf Al-Barbari of
Morocco who converted Maldives into Islam in 1153. It is a small building in front of the
President’s Residence. We then entered
the grounds of the Hukuru Miskiy, (the Friday Mosque) which was constructed of
coral blocks and is the only known building of that construction in the world.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On the grounds of the Mosque was the grave
yard of the kings and their families.
The size of the stones represented the relative age of the buried person
(the taller the stone the older the person was at their death). From Hukuru Miskiy we visited the Sultan Park
and Yasaar described the buildings and pointed out Fruit Bats hanging in the
trees.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Across the street we visited the
November 3<sup>rd</sup> Memorial that commemorates the soldiers and civilians
killed when a group of eighty Tamil mercenaries, hired by two Maldivian
businessmen disgruntled with the President Gayoom, landed on Male’ on November
3, 1988, and quickly took over the airport. They were caught in a shootout with military
forces in Male’ and were forced to retreat after India deployed 1600
paratroopers to the Maldives on Gayoom’s request. They blew a hole in the side of the wall that
surrounds the Police Headquarters. That
hole now frames a beautiful symbol of the event and is flanked by flags on both
sides of the hole. At the same location
was a traffic circle with the Republican Monument, a large aluminum sculpture
that is the symbol of the country. It
represents different key historical events when viewed from different
sides. It is difficult to describe in
this journal. Northwest of the monument
was the Islamic Center which was the largest Mosque on the island with a
capacity of 5,000 worshipers.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
From the Mosque we walked across Republican Square where
Yasaar explained that a large at the end of the square was named after an 18
year old who was the first one killed in the November 3<sup>rd</sup>
attack.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We crossed the square and walked
along the waterfront to the vegetable market and entered were Steve and I had
purchased items the day before. Yasaar
provided us with more details on several of the fruits, nuts and honey than we
had been able to obtain the day before.
We walked down the aisle and exited at the west end of the building and
then crossed the street to enter the fish market. Again Yasaar was able to provide more detail
on the various types of fish on display.
He told me that if the fish is not sold in one day it is packed up and
send to one of the islands that specializes in producing dried fish. None of the fish goes to waste. We got a kick out of watching one of the men
gutting fish with a cigarette with a half inch ash in his mouth. He managed to finish a stack of fish before
the ash fell.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We walked out the south side of the fish market past a
Mosque to an ornate building that houses the Supreme Court of the
Maldives. The building was built by one
of the Presidents that behaved as a dictator and spend lavishly on
himself. His replacement would not live
in the building and it became the Supreme Court of the Maldives. That was the last attraction on the
tour. We thanked Yasaar for his
excellent tour and commentary and walked back to the hotel.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At 19:00 we returned to the Aioli Restaurant for
dinner. I had the catch of the day, a
tasty grilled white fish. After dinner
we returned to the hotel and I called Judy and packed for the next morning
departure.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
It had been an interesting experience to visit the two countries
and I then was looking forward to touring parts of India.<o:p></o:p></div>
Edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03034021752003929779noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2230692068076603436.post-90140745562407183212014-06-01T14:26:00.000-07:002014-06-01T14:26:24.337-07:00Vanuatu Tour – January 2014<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Overview:</b> Having
started 2014 with a two week expedition to rarely visited Sub-Antarctic islands
south of New Zealand in the Southern Ocean and then visited two rarely visited
by Americans, Australian islands in the Indian Ocean I finished my trip in the
Pacific Ocean visiting Vanuatu, a UN country.
It would be my 187 out of 193 UN countries to visit.<b><o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Advantage Travel & Tours group I had started with on
the expedition in the Southern Ocean to sub-Antarctic islands had dwindled to
five of us to visit the Indian Ocean islands (Laurie
Campbell, Bob Ihsen, Del and Linda McCuen) and then to just Bob Ihsen and me
visiting Vanuatu.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Wednesday, January
22, 2014:</b> Fly Perth to Port Vila, Vanuatu via Brisbane, Australia<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After barely making the connection by just three minutes in Perth from the flight
into the International Terminal from Christmas Island to the flight to Brisbane
at the Domestic Terminal a twenty minute bus ride away, I flew a ‘red-eye’ to
Brisbane landing at 05:05. I had my
usual trouble passing through security in Australia where they make me shed my
belt, shoes and watch and then go over my carry-on and back pack scrubbing it
for explosive residue. I told Bob to go
ahead and to meet me outside the Air New Zealand Lounge.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When I finally got everything back in order after the
security check I proceeded to the lounge and didn’t see Bob. At the lounge I found that since I was flying
on Virgin Australia I could not use it.
I returned to the main Departure concourse and couldn’t find Bob so I
walked to the flight’s’ gate which was at the very end of a long wing of the
terminal. It was a long walk but they
had interesting modern art displays on the wall and in one area four very
colorful larger than life size wooden figures in a musical theme.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Bob was not in sight around the gate so I walked back to the
main concourse and still did not see Bob.
I had not eaten breakfast and our flight was not scheduled to depart
until 10:30 so I ordered a Subway 6-inch breakfast sandwich (poached egg,
bacon, cheese and tomato) and hoped that Bob would find the food court that I
was in.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Bob didn’t show so I returned to the gate at 06:45. Near the gate was a large table with six
chairs on each side and 12 power outlets in the middle. I set-up my laptop and found the airport had
three hours of free Wi-Fi. I was
processing email when Bob arrived. He
had eaten at a different food court.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our flight departed on time and landed at Baurerfield
International Airport (named after Lt Colonel Harold W. Bauer, a USMC fighter
pilot ACE and WWII Medal of Honor recipient for his actions on Guadalcanal) in
Port Vila, Vanuatu at 14:05. Passport
control was fast and easy and outside the baggage room we found a man with the
name of our hotel (Grand Hotel & Casino).
He directed us to a waiting area until everyone had exited the Baggage
area. We then boarded a small bus towing
our luggage in a trailer (a common practice in Australia and New Zealand) and
drove us to the hotel.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Grand Hotel and Casino was the largest and tallest (7
stories) building in the country and is located at the south end of the city
center. Just north of it was the city
market in a very large covered building with open sides and an adjacent large
parking lot. The bus turned into the
parking lot and stopped at the water’s edge where a small open sided boat was
waiting to take passengers to Iririki Island about 400 yards out in Vila
Bay. After they were off loaded the bus
stopped in from of the hotel and we got off and checked in.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our room was OK with a nice balcony but only one outlet at
the head of the bed and one desk and no table.
There was a window between the sleeping area and the bathroom. So as not to shock us old fat men viewing
each other in the buff there was a power shade that closed the window. I requested a power strip from the front desk
and was able to plug in the bedside lamp and my power strip to plug in my CPAP
machine, laptop and camera battery charger.
Bob used the desk to write his journal and I used the laptop on my lap
to write mine. We had a nice view of the
Iririki Island Resort’s 11 bungalows facing the bay and the waterfront of the
city since the bay curved northwest from our location which faced west.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After unpacking I went for a walk through the city main
street (Lini (Kumul) Highway). On the
east side of the road were several open front stores that were typical of
waterfront island resorts selling post cards, bathing suits, suntan lotion,
snorkeling masks and fins and children’s water toys. You could be walking the street and see the same
stores in a Caribbean Island, Venice Beach, Hawaii or Florida. On the west side of the street was the Fruit
and Vegetables Market. A park with a
dirt area were men were playing Bowls, a form of lawn bowls without the lawn <span lang="EN">in which the objective is to roll biased
balls so that they stop close to a smaller ball called a "jack" or
"kitty". </span><span lang="EN"> </span>It
is popular in Australia on lawns and hard dirt in New Zealand. Between the Bowls area and the sea wall was
an area where clothes were sold by “Mamas”.
The later typical of African clothes markets.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Past the park area there were tourist shops, ‘Supermarkets’
and open front cafes on both sides of the road.
The Post Office had a very large colorful modern art façade. I visited the Information Center and picked
up a fact sheet on the nation. There are
83 islands in a Y-shaped chain of diverse range of scenery from volcanoes to
coral atolls with sandy beaches. Each
island has its own distinct culture and language. The capital is Port Vila on the island of
Efate. Espiritu Santo is the largest.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The following is a short background on the island:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>It
is thought the first people to reach Vanuatu were the Lapita from Papua New
Guinea, who arrived about 2000 BC. The
first European explorers arrived in May 1606 as part of a Spanish expedition
headed by Pedro Fernandez de Quiros. British explorer James Cook, who drew the
region’s first charts, arrived in the islands on 16 July 1774, christening them
the New Hebrides. In 1848, Rev John
Geddie established a Presbyterian mission on Aneityum.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>The
people were decimated by European diseases, leading to a huge population
decline. Although protestant missionaries put a stop to traditional practices
such as cannibalism and initially, kava drinking, today’s traditional cultural
life (kastom) remains strong, particularly in the outer islands. By 1844, the
country’s first trading post was established on Aneityum (the southernmost
island at the base of the Y) and in 1906, the Anglo-French Condominium of the
New Hebrides was created, giving France and Britain dual administrative powers.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>US
forces arrived in Vanuatu in 1942 to counter Japan’s rapid advance through the
Pacific. Bases were built at Havannah
Harbour and Port Vila on Efate, and on Espiritu Santo. Some 500,000 troops were stationed at Espiritu
Santo over the course of the war, making it the largest US base in the Pacific
outside of Hawaii. Vanuatu achieved
independence under its present name in July 1980, and has a democratic
government. The nation's name was
derived from the word vanua ("land" or "home"), which
occurs in several Austronesian languages, and the word tu ("stand"). Together the two words indicated the
independent status of the new country.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>Vanuatu’s
official languages are Bislama, English and French. There are 115 ‘mother tongues’ in common use –
the world’s highest concentration of different languages per head of
population. English is widely spoken,
and most people speak some Bislama. Business
communication is conducted in English, French or Bislama.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
From the Information Center I walked back toward the
hotel. I stopped at a Tour Agency to
inquire about island tours. After
getting brochures I continued and cut down a side street to the sea where there
I walked along the sea wall past the “Mamas” tents, past small docks with ski
boats, Snorkeling, scuba diving and water cruise vendors. I walked past the hotel and up a slight rise
past a gas station and a supermarket and then back to the hotel.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I was hot and thirsty when I reached the hotel so I stopped
to have the local Tusker beer. As I was
drinking the beer at the bar a middle age man sat down next to me and ordered a
beer. He asked me where I came from and
we engaged in a conversation. He was an
ex-restaurant owner who fell in love with Vanuatu and its life style. He then bought a small resort and has moved
to Vanuatu to manage it. He was an
interesting character and I had another beer to continue talking to him.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At 18:30 Bob and I went to dinner in the hotel. We sat at the window in back of the
restaurant with a great view of the bay.
We ordered the country’s national dish “Laplap” diner. It incorporates fish, root vegetables such as
taro and yams, fruits, and vegetables.
While we waited for the meal to be served we watched the sun set. The scene was picture beautiful with an
orange color sunset and boats lined with colored lights.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After dinner we returned to our room and wrote in our
journals.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Thursday, January 23,
2014:</b> Fly Port Vila to Tanna Island, Vanuatu<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I woke at 06:00 to get a head start on re arranging my
luggage so that I took less than 10 kilos in my carry-on bag. First I showered and shaved. The “hot” water never got past warm but I
gutted it out. After emptying the
contents of my carry-on I put in just my toilet kit and CPAP machine. In an outer pocket I put my bathing suit, a
t-shirt, laundry soap and small brush, sink stopper and my pills.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Bob got up and we went to breakfast. It was raining and we decided to skip our
plan to take the 09:00 two hour tour of the city. When we returned to our room I talked to Judy
on Skype and did some email clean up.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
By 09:00 the rain had stopped so we decided to try to book a
city tour with a drop off at the airport.
We walked across the parking lot alongside the hotel to a tourist agent
that Bob had talked to the day before about arranging a tour. She was busy so we started out for the Tourist
Agency I had talked to the day before and found it was further than I had
remembered so we reversed direction and returned to the first agency. When or turn came to be waited on she told us
the 09:00 tour had left and that she couldn’t arrange anything for us. As we left the building a woman that had been
in there was sitting outside and inquired if we got what we wanted. When we told here that the agent couldn’t
arrange for a driver/guide to give us a two hour tour and drop us off at the
airport she remarked she could arrange it to start at 10:00.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We returned to the hotel and checked out and wheeled our
bags back to the tourist agency. The
agent inside was surprised to see us and had no knowledge of what the other
woman had told us but she had a driver/guide she could call.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The guide arrived shortly with a van and we loaded our bags
in and started the tour. He drove us south
past No. 2 Supermarket (the guide explained the numbering of supermarkets) to
the Main Wharf where we drove past all the vans lined up for a cruise ship
arrival and the vendor shacks to sell tourist items. The guide told us the city is planning on building
permanent stalls to replace the blue tarp framed stalls. He drove us around the Pango area overlooking
Erakor Bay past the Amalfi Court Resort and then along the Erakor Lagoon past
the Vila Bay Heath Center to Chief’s Nakamal.
A Chief’s Nakamal is a building in most villages where the village
elders meet to discuss village issues.
The sides of the building is very colorful weaved palm leafs. Across a park was the National Museum of Vanuatu. We rode past the front of the museum and then
stopped at the Parliament House for pictures.
The Chinese built a beautiful building.
In front of the building was a statue of a Vanuatu couple and child. In front of the statue was the symbol of
Vanuatu which is a circle of wild pig’s horns.
Bob and I got a nice picture of the statue through the circle with the
Parliament Building in the background.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Next to the Parliament was the construction by the Chinese
of a large convention center. The
picture of the building indicates it will be an impressive structure. We then rode through the working class
neighborhood of small homes, past the site of the court house lot which had
burned down and the town hall.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our guide explained the governing system in Vanuatu before
Independence.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>Settlers
came looking for land on the islands to establish cotton plantations. When international cotton prices collapsed,
planters switched to coffee, cocoa, bananas, and, most successfully, coconuts. Initially, British subjects from Australia
made up the majority of settlers, but the establishment of the Caledonian
Company of the New Hebrides in 1882 attracted more French subjects. By the start of the 20th century, the French
outnumbered the British two to one.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>The
mixture of French and British interests in the islands brought petitions for
one or another of the two powers to annex the territory. On the verge of a settlement a typhoon hit the
islands causing great damage. Both the
French and the English worked together to repair the damage. As a result in 1906, France and the United Kingdom
agreed to administer the islands jointly. They called it “the British-French Condominium”,
it was a unique form of government. The
separate governmental systems came together only in a joint court. Melanesians were barred from acquiring the citizenship
of either power. We rode by separate
French and English Police stations and jails during our tour.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>Challenges
to the joint form of government began in the early 1940s. The arrival of Americans during World War II,
with their informal habits and relative wealth, contributed to the rise of
nationalism in the islands. A referendum
was voted on to give the locals the choice to become a French Colony, an
Australian Territory or an Independent Country.
They chose the latter but have found that self-government is more costly
that they expected and the roads and infrastructure has declined.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our next stop was the War Memorial across from the Reserve
Bank of Vanuatu. The Memorial honors
those from the islands that served in World War I and II. It overlooks the city and was a great photo
stop. From there we rode down the hill
past the Teacher’s School, and around Fatumaru Bay and stopped for pictures
across the bay of the city. There was a
small beach with kids swimming and a little bit up the road cows grazing.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our final stop was the Domestic Terminal at the
airport. It was noon when we checked in
for our 14:00 flight to Tanna. The
terminal was small and at first the majority of the people in the terminal were
airport employees eating lunch. The café
was serving local food that did not appeal to either of us. We walked over to the International Terminal
next door to find more palpable food but everything was closed so we returned
to the Domestic Terminal and a drink and a bag of chips to tide us over. A group of Chinese checked in to the flight. Two of the group was teenagers and they were
horsing around a lot. Then an elderly
Australian woman checked in. We had to
pay a 200 vt (US$2) departure tax before departing the terminal. When it appeared that an agent was ready to
check us in the woman rushed to the door.
I lined up behind her and she told me she wanted to get on the plane
“before those boys did”. Their horsing
around had bothered her sitting in the terminal. Her name was Jill and she had been a school
teacher in Africa, but for younger children and teen agers bothered her. When I asked her if she had the departure tax
and gotten her boarding pass stamped she said she wasn’t leaving the country
and she didn’t think it applied. I told
her it did and she rushed to pay it before the Chinese boys got in line for the
flight.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It turned out that Bob and I were assigned to row 1 and Jill
in row 2 and the Chinese in the back of the plane. The plane was a Twin Otter DHC 6-310. I introduced myself to the pilot and he told
me he was from Australia and had just joined Air Vanuatu from flying for Buffalo
Airways in Yellowknife, Canada. He was
impressed that I had visited the Buffalo Airways Operation just last year and
had met the character that ran the operation and saw the early 1950 Fords and
Mercury’s he had in a hanger.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was a 55 minute flight to Tanna Island south of Port
Vila. The airport was named “Aeroport de
Whitegrass Tanna” which was interesting since we were staying at the White
Grass Ocean Resort. Jill was also
staying at the Resort so she spotted a pickup truck with the resort name on its
side outside the terminal as we waited for our bags to be delivered to Baggage
Claim. The truck had bench seats in the
back and a two-step box was used for us to climb in the back. Bob had trouble getting over the side of the
truck bed so Jill traded places and let Bob ride in front with Jill and I in
back.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Less than ten minutes after we landed we were at the resort driveway
and we passed a small golf course and tennis court down the road to the resort
lodge where we were greeted by the managers: Nicola and Jean-Francois Crinquand
and their staff. The receptionist handed
a fruit punch drink and the registration form.
We were told our luggage had been carried to our “bure”. (Bure is the
Fijian word for a wood-and-straw hut, sometimes similar to a cabin).<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The lodge was open to let the breeze flow through. In the middle was the bar and off to the
south side were the kitchen and reception desk and small shop. Past the reception was the management
office. Facing the ocean was the dining
area. The bures were north of the lodge
accessed by sandy paths though manicured lawns, flowers, palm trees and native
sculptures. Down a path from the lodge
was a long concrete pier leading to a small dock. A rope was attached to the dock so if you
wanted to swim or snorkel you could use the rope to pull you back through a rip
tide if it existed.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our bure had a high pitch grass roof with just a fan for
cooling. There was mosquito netting
hanging over the beds. I took the larger
of the two beds because it had the power outlet next to the headboard. The bure had a beautiful view of the ocean and
was a short walk to the pool.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Bob started to write in his journal and was getting bothered
by mosquitoes. In the room there was an
ashtray with a coil of insect repellant that if burned would repel flies and
mosquitoes. I used up half the cheap box
of matches trying to get the coil to burn before I realized that I needed to
turn the fan off until the coil started to burn. Its flow was blowing the matches out before
the coil would catch on fire.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I walked the grounds and took a swim. The pool was warmer than my shower had been
in the Grand Hotel that morning. It was
not a lap pool but it did feel good until I got out and found that flies were attracted
to my wet legs. After I dried my legs
they lost interest.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At 17:30 I stopped in the lodge for a beer and the cocktail
of the day (a coconut and pineapple rum drink) before dinner. I was able to connect to the internet and
talk to Judy over Skype but then the connection dropped. Bob wanted to skip his post trip to New Caledonia
and I had been communicating with Cathy Parda to change his tickets and it was
frustrating that the internet was not connecting. I could connect to the Resort router but then
I got a message that the DNS Server didn’t recognize the router. I tried to trace the problem and discovered
the reception desk and back office were on different systems. I disconnected the router and plugged it back
in and the DNS still couldn’t find it.
Cathy must have sensed that I was having a problem and sent Bob’s revised
ticket information to Nicola to relay a printed copy to Bob.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The menu for dinner was listed on a chalk board. I had spicy Thai fish cakes with a small mixed
salad and pan seared yellow fin tuna in garlic butter sauce, steamed rice and a
mixed salad. For desert I had a scoop of
rum raisin ice cream. After we ordered
and were waiting for our food the sun set and we had a beautiful unobstructed
view.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We signed up for two tours for the next day and retired to
our bure for the night.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Friday, January 24, 2014:</b>
Tour Tanna Island, Vanuatu<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I slept pretty well with the mosquito netting dropped around
my bed. It did tangle with my CPAP
machine and I never heard any mosquito’s flying around. The shower was hot with strong water
pressure. Bob and I went to breakfast at
07:15.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The breakfast menu was written on a blackboard displaying a
choice of punch or juice, fruit platter, cereal and a basket of toast or
pancakes or fried eggs and bacon. We
ordered the eggs.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our first tour of the day left at 08:30 on the 3 hour ‘Lagalangia
Kustom Village – Lowinio’ tour. Phillip
was our driver and guide and we were in a 4WD Toyota Land Cruiser. The temperature was pleasant and we rode with
the windows down. He turned south out of
the resort driveway and drove past the airport toward the town. The road was not paved and was full of pot
holes and at one point a mud hole. The
bridges across deep gullies and streams were British Army ‘Bailey’
bridges. A type of portable,
pre-fabricated, truss bridge developed in WWII.
Phillip told us they were installed after a typhoon had wiped out the
concrete and wooden bridges built by the French and English during their joint
administration of the island prior to Independence.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
About five minutes south of the airport we passed a set of
shipping containers painted white with windows and a red awning. It was the office of an Australian planning
to set-up a 4 wheel ATV Rental Agency.
As rough as the roads were on the island it makes more sense to have an
ATV than a Rental Car Agency. Continuing
along the road to the town we were mostly in rain forest with a few wooden
vendor huts, mostly vacant but some selling pineapples or bananas or gasoline
in small containers. Pigs, chickens,
horses and cattle were grazing on the tall grass. Phillip told us the name “White Grass” came
from the sun shining on the tall grass giving it a white look.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We rode past a school.
It had a color coded map of the world and a large map of the Vanuatu
islands painted on the wall of one of the buildings. Phillip told us there were English and French
schools on the island. He had attended
an English school. Past the school was
the French run power station. The main
source of power for the island was diesel generators but some solar and wind
turbines are used. Most of the island
does not have electricity and uses kerosene lamps in the huts.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Phillip told us that arranged marriages were no longer
practiced on the island. As a matter of
fact he married a Samoan woman he met while on a vacation. When a girl marries she moves to her
husband’s village and her first born when he or she grows up has to move to her
birth place village. Phillip has sent
his oldest daughter after she finished high school to live in Samoa.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As we approached the Lenakel town center there was a small
strip mall with the National Bank, Telcom Office, and a few stores. Down the hill from the mall were a dry river
bed and then a few stores in concrete buildings leading to the town center with
a large area set-up as a Fruits and Vegetable Market. We saw peanuts still attached to their plants
and root vegetables lined up in a row.
Across from the market was the ocean with a few boys swimming off a
stone covered beach.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A large map of the island and of the Lenakel area with
locations numbered and a directory between the two maps was displayed at a bus
stop. It was “Proudly Sponsored By Tafea
Province and Tafea Tourism”. Men drive
pickup trucks which serve as buses around the island. They have a large red B on their license
plates. Behind the bus stop was the
covered market. In between the covered
market building and the bus stop people had displays of their fruits and
vegetables laid out on colorful cloth.
South of that area there was a very large tree and many of the vendors set
up beneath the tree. The men wore shorts
and colorful shirts and were bare footed.
The woman wore colorful dresses or shirts and shirts. It was typical of Caribbean or Polynesian
island attire.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We walked around the market taking pictures. In some countries I have seen chickens sold
at market in cages. Here they were lying
down with their feet tied together. When
we got back in the Land Cruiser we rode around town. The Fish Market was in a concrete building not
far from the market building. The town
had a traffic circle with a monument with a rooster on top in the middle of the
circle.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Lenakel Municipal building was in a concrete structure
south of the traffic circle. Up on the
hill overlooking the town was an old wooden Presbyterian Church building across
from the Lenakel Presbyterian College.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We left the village and drove up the hill and encountered
our first paved road. The steep hill through
the rain forest was paved in concrete and had a street sign saying it was Wvara
King Street Funded by PWD in collaboration with Amoros Keipal Walalo. The paved road soon ended when the grade
leveled off and we came upon the Lowinio village and a Baha’i religious
building. A short distance away was a
large clearing ringed with Banyan trees.
One of the trees had a large square cavity that served as a room. Someone had painted a house number on the
side of the cavity. On the north side of
the clearing was a grass covered open sided lodge that Phillip told us was the
village elders meeting place. There was
also a round dry palm leaf roofed enclosed hut along the edge with grass
growing out of the roof.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There were three barefoot boys and a girl playing in the
clearing. The boys wore colorful shorts,
the oldest with a dirty t-shirt. The
girl wore a ragged dress. They were
happy to pose for pictures.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We got back in the Land Cruiser and drove a short distance
to the Lekalangia Cultural Village.
There we were met by Rita, dressed in what looked like a grass
dress. She was our guide for the tour of
the village. She led us down a path
through the rain forest with coffee plants along the way. She stopped to pick a straight branch from a
tree and showed us how they peel the bark from the plant and dry them to make
the grass dresses.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We stopped in an open sided round dry palm leaf roofed hut in
which she showed how it was constructed using vines to lash the frame together
and the weaving of dry palm leaves to form the roof. She also explained that the villagers have
resisted the trappings of Western culture and continue to embrace a subsistence
way of life dominated by their belief in “Kastom”. (<i>Kastom
is a pijin word used to refer to traditional culture, including religion,
economics, art and magic in Melanesia.</i>).
After the rest stop we continued down the path as Rita explained the use
of the plants and trees we were passing.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the village center we entered an open sided building with
mats on the floor and a woman in a grass dress with large banana leaves on the
mat preparing a traditional village meal similar to the ‘Laplap” dish I had at
the Grand Hotel but way more authentic.
She started with coconut shredded and molded into a dough base. She used a stick that had very short bristles
to shred roots into the dough. Then she
flattened the dough and covered it with leaves and small chunks of vegetables,
finishing by wrapping the mixture in the banana leaf and tying it close with
thin shreds of a leaf. All this time a
young girl in a grass skirt sat and watched the preparation.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In another area of the hut a woman was uncovering a cooked
meal. Another woman was heating stones
in a fire and when the first woman had completed wrapping the meal she made
they placed it on the hot rocks moving them around using two sticks like tongs. The meal was then covered by leaves and dirt
covered the leaves.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The meal that was uncovered was laid out in front of us on a
large banana leaf and unwrapped to show the white dough in a long roll. Using a sharp edge bamboo knife the roll was
cut into small pieces and placed on a leaf.
From another cooked packet eggs, bits of fish and chicken were added to
our leaf and served to us. I found the
meal to be surprisingly delicious salted with sea salt.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the yard outside the hut a group of children were playing
a form of blind man’s bluff. The girls
were wearing the grass skirts and the boys a few leaves hanging from a rope
around their waist. The youngest boys
were naked.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After we finished our meal we moved to another open area
where straw mats were laid out and native handicrafts, beads and coconut cups
were displayed for sale. A young mother
with painted symbols on her cheeks holding a baby greeted us.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The village chief came out to greet us. He was naked except for a tuff of grass
covering his private parts. The grass
was tied together with a rope around his waist and the knot of grass stuck out
like a short erection. He was a handsome
man with a big grin and a curly hairy chest and grayish hair. In the hut he had emerged from sat a number
of men wearing the same private parts cover.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The chief shook our hand and in good English explained how
his village wanted to maintain their culture and way of life. He told us that they are completely
self-sufficient growing their own food and raising pigs, goats and cattle to
eat. If they have a very good crop they
will take it to the market to trade or sell to buy things like machetes and
other farm instruments.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The chief’s son and a young boy then demonstrated how to
make fire rubbing two sticks together.
He held a narrow foot long stick in one hand and rubbed it very rapidly
in a grove on a bigger stick held firmly by the young boy. Soon a small pile of shavings formed at the
end of the grove and soon the pile started to glow and then start to burn. Other shavings were added and a flame started
up and was transferred to a fire setting.
It was remarkable how quickly the procedure took to generate the flame.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Next the men and boys formed a circle with the woman outside
the circle. The men chanted and started
to dance around while the woman jumped up and down to the rhythm of the
chant. They group worked themselves into
a frenzy stomping and jumping. It was a
sight to witness but wouldn’t play on ‘Dancing with the Stars’.<o:p></o:p></div>
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After the dance Rita lead us back up the path to our Land
Cruiser. Phillip then drove us back down
the mountain passing the hospital on the way and a French school and to the
traffic circle in the town. On the way
back to the Resort we passed fish hanging from a tree limb for sale along the
road and a small pond with a lime stone bluff.
Phillip told us it was the quarry where they excavated the limestone for
the road surface. It then served as a
fresh water hole for goats and cattle.
We also passed the Tafea College campus and got to the Resort by 12:30
in time for lunch.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Again the menu was on the blackboard. I selected the Toasted tuna and cheese
sandwich with fries and a mixed salad.
The bread was a little strange for a toasted sandwich since it was not
dense and the tuna and cheese would ooze out.
The fries were not deep fried and also a little different.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At 14:30 Jill met with us as we prepared for the evenings
visit to the Yasur Volcano. We had to
sign a release and since we would arrive after dinner we had to order our
dinner in advance so they could serve us on our return. Again the menu was on a black board. I selected the Grilled Mahi-Mahi with white
wine and lemon sauce.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The Land Cruiser was being serviced and we had to wait until
15:00 to start our long drive across the mountains to the east side of the
island and then down and around and up the volcano. I packed my rain jacket and floppy hat with
the chin string since Phillip told us it would be very windy at the rim of the
volcano.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We started out with Jill in the front seat and Bob and I in
back repeating the route we had taken that morning to the town and then turned
east up the paved hill and then into rutted rough roads through rain forest,
farm land passing horses, cattle, pigs, goats and chickens. In some of the villages we saw boys playing
in open areas. They were very friendly
waving and posing for a snapshot as we passed with our cameras raised. At one point we passed the new Mormon Church
under construction.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
About thirty minutes into our journey we encountered a tree
house and 15 minutes after that a cemetery and a short distance later we
stopped and walked to an open area where we were greeted by a group of men
women and children from a local church.
We were each handed a bouquet of flowers, Jill’s by a baby that could
barely walk. The minister spoke to us
and explained the group was a choir and then they sang several religious
songs. Phillip passed the minister an
envelope (it came from our fee for the tour) and we returned to the Land
Cruiser and our journey.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
An hour into our trip we reached a point in the mountains
were we could see the coast and sea on the east side of the island. The road down from the mountain was very
steep and we entered a point where it was paved and rounded a bend in the road
we saw the volcano in the distance. It
was erupting puffs of smoke and a line of clouds hung just above it.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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As we descended and began to level off the paving ended and
we were bumping along again trying to avoid pot holes and ruts in the road we
passed a group of musicians with homemade string instruments. An hour and one half after we left the resort
we entered the lava and black ash field at the base of the volcano. We could clearly see the puffs of black smoke
erupting every five minutes or so. The lava
terrain looked very much like the moon’s surface. We had to ford a shallow river as we were
circling around to the south side of the mountain. The wind was strong and at one point it had
created a sharp ridge of black lava ash up the side of the volcano. A group of young people were at the base of
the ridge holding snow boards. As we
drove by a young lady with a snow board under her arm was climbing the ridge to
slide down.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We left the lava ash plain and re-entered a road through the
rain forest and at a point where the road split we stopped to pay a local
villager a fee to enter their village area.
Soon we drove past the Banyan Castle Tree House, a tourist facility
where the lodging was built in large Banyan trees. They looked very sturdy with glass windows,
wood panel sides and a shake like roof.
A wide wooden stair case with hand rails lead up to the balcony in front
of the tree house.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At 17:00 we entered the gate for the Mount Yasur Volcano. Phillip had to pay another fee and we picked
up two young ladies as guides. We
bounced along a road with high grass on both sides and broke out in in an open
area where several pickup trucks were parked.
Up the side of the volcano was a concrete path with posts about every
ten feet. At the start of the path was
the famous mail box where one could mail a post card from the volcano.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We parked and I put on my rain jacket to shield against the
wind and the lava ash and then I walked up the grade. It was steep but without steps and with the
posts it was not a difficult climb for me.
It took less than ten minutes to reach the viewing spot at the rim. It was around 17:30 and the volcano was still
erupting every 5 minutes but not throwing up a lot of fiery lava.<o:p></o:p></div>
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We were viewing at a rim looking down about 50 feet to the
crater where the eruptions occurred.
There were about thirty spectators watching and photographing the
eruptions. A guide told me that in the
dry season the red lava would be thrown higher than where we were standing but
the wet season causes the sides to slide into the crater and diminish the lava
eruptions. The night before it had
rained and the eruptions were mainly steam.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Finally as it got dark we could see fire and sparks of lava
emitting in the eruptions. The darker it
got the more we could see. At 18:20 the
sun started to set and through the smoke and haze of the volcano it was a
bright yellow sight along the mountain ridge giving the impression that the
mountain was on fire. It made for a
couple of beautiful pictures. The
brightest fire in an eruption came at 18:30 and then it seemed to diminish so
we started down the mountain at 18:45.
The girls assisted Bob and it took less than ten minutes to get back in
the Land Cruiser.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Phillip then had to navigate across the black ash with very
few tracks to follow. He forded the
river which was full of cows drinking the water and had to navigate around a
couple of cows that refused to move. I
am glad he drove the route three times a week and knew where he was going
because I was in the front seat and couldn’t see very many landmarks until we
reached the road again.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When we reached the volcano entrance gate where we had
picked up the girls it was dark. I guess
who ever had transported them to the entrance building had left and Phillip had
to take them to their village. He
started back on the road we had taken to get to the entrance but then turned
off towards the coast to a village where we met a man with a flashlight waiting
for the girls. After dropping the girls
off he turned around and eventually got back on the road to the west coast.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It took two hours to reach the resort. Our dinner was waiting and I found the
Mahi-Mahi to be delicious. When I
returned to the bure I changed into my swim suit and headed to the pool. I sleep in my swim suit so I didn’t want to
get it wet and I slipped into the dark edge of the pool and rid myself of the
volcanic ash. The pool was a little
cooler than the day before and felt very refreshing after the ash filled air we
had experienced.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When I returned to the bure I washed out my underwear and
found black ash in the sink. I didn’t
lower the mosquito netting and found a little more breeze cross my bed from the
fan and the windows. It had been a long
day and I dropped off to sleep very quickly.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Saturday, January 25,
2014:</b> Fly Tanna Island to Port Vila, Vanuatu<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I had a restful night and woke just before 06:00 only to
find that the hot water was not working so I had to take a cold shower. Each bure had its own hot water heater fueled
by a bottle of butane. It had worked
before we had gone to bed so it wasn’t a case of being turned off so maybe the
butane ran out. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We had breakfast at 07:30 and then left on a tour of Tanna
Highlights at 08:30. Our driver/guide
was Phillips’ cousin “Happy”. He told us
he was named Happy because he was born on New Year’s.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Happy drove us in a different Land Cruiser back towards the
airport and turned off the road at a sign for the Giant Banyan Tree 4km. The road was through very tall grass on each
side and soon we turned off to the abandon Burton Field Airport. It had been a grass strip with a dip which
was often flooded during the rainy season so they constructed a paved runway
close to the coast. The old terminal
building was still there with no windows and across an open field now used as a
soccer field was the operations building next to an old weather tower. Happy told us Phillip used to work for Air
Vanuatu at the terminal and when the airport moved he was transferred to Port
Vila. While in Port Vila he had occasion
to fly to Samoa where he met his wife.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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After we left the airfield the road became narrower and we
rode through the rain forest past a split in the road at the 2 km point until
we reached a village with an open field full of men and boys playing
soccer. Happy stopped and a man ran over
and jumped in the back of the Land Cruiser. A short distance later we stopped at the car
park for the World’s Largest Banyan Tree.
It was reportedly certified in the Guinness Book of Records.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our guide led us down a path for ten minutes to the edge of
the tree. It was amazing there were
aerial roots in both directions measuring a 100 meters (a football field) wide. Paths weaved through the aerial roots and we
spent about ten minutes following them until we reached a path of steps dug in
the hillside that led back to the car park.
It took Bob a little longer to climb the steps. He was exhausted when he reached the Land
Cruiser. I took a picture of the tree
from the view point and the brochure claims it covers an area of 200 meters
(656 ft). Just try to picture one tree
as big as the bowl of a football stadium, absolutely blowing! The tree is still growing north and east and is
believed to date back long before Captain Cook arrived on the island in 1774.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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We drove back down to the village and dropped our guide off
at the Tour Operations & Visitor Center.
And then we continued passing by other villages. Happy told us some of the villages were “John
Frum” villages. They have a belief in a
mythical messianic figure named John Frum was the basis for an indigenous cargo
cult (a movement attempting to obtain industrial goods through magic) promising
Melanesian deliverance. Today, John Frum is both a religion and a political
party with a member in Parliament. It
was formed before World War II but reinforced when Americans would drop
supplies by parachute to troops on the island during the war.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When we reached the coast highway Happy turned toward the
town of Lenakel. Happy gave us a tour of
areas that Phillip had not taken us to such as the Province Capital Building,
the Province Governor’s house, the USAID building, the Road Maintenance Shop
where the road repair machines sat in rust.
He showed us the French and then the English Governors buildings. He told us that prior to Independence the
roads were well maintained but the country only repairs them during the dry
season. We passed through Isangel where we
saw the open-air Supreme Court Building.<o:p></o:p></div>
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We rode back through the Lenakel town center and towards the
resort and stopped at the Tanna Coffee Plantation and processing plant. Since it was Saturday the plant was
closed. Past the plant Happy drove down
to the beach and up the beach towards the resort. It was rocky with outcroppings of lava
rock. We saw fisherman in the surf and
we stopped to examine a row of native dugout fishing boats. They were very narrow with outriggers.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Past the boats we came upon the Catholic mission, a
beautiful building facing the ocean with a large lawn down to the beach. Past the mission we turned away from the
beach and rode past a church and an old coffee mill to the main road near the
quarry. This time there were even more
goats than the day before grazing around the quarry.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Back at the resort we ate lunch and packed for our trip back
to Port Vila. The internet was still not
connecting to the DNS Server so they gave me the Reception Desk password and
refunded the Internet fee. I was able to
download my emails and answer the important ones before leaving for the airport
at 15:30.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Before I left the resort I engaged Jean-Francois in a
conversation about the Tanna Island government’s attitude toward tourists. With the Giant Banyan Tree, Volcano, dive
spots and the friendly villages they had a lot to offer but I didn’t get a feeling
that they were encouraging more tourists.
He told me that there was a feeling that the locals want to limit
tourists in order to maintain their culture.
We also discussed the wear and tear the roads must have on his vehicles
and he agreed and said the roads are graded once a year during the dry season. He didn’t sound optimistic that things would
improve or change very much.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
Our flight back to Port Vila was on a larger aircraft, an
ATR-72. I sat next to Mr. Sato Kilman,
Minister of Trade Commerce and Tourism, Republic of Vanuatu. I discussed with him the same issues I raised
with Jean-Francois. He told me the
government wants to expand tourism to the island, build a wharf for cruise
ships and improve the roads. They have
funded a project for road improvement that will start in July. He is meeting resistance from the locals who
are afraid that an increase in tourists will ruin their way of life. He found that the John Frum cult is
especially resistant to change. He has
been trying to increase the production of coffee on the island to gain more
revenue but since the locals are basically happy growing their own food they
have no incentive to need more revenue.
It was a very timely chance meeting for me.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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It was only a 35 minute flight back to Port Vila. Since it was a larger plane the wait for our
bags took longer. There was some large
freight on the plane. One box held labeled
“Chow” held a rooster who’s head was sticking out an air hole. When we got our bags we hired a cab to drive
us to the hotel. The cab was a new KIA
only a week old. The driver was very pleasant
and we agreed to use him to take us to the airport the next day.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Our hotel room was identical to the one we had two days
earlier except it was on a higher floor providing an even better view of the
city and the bay. We decided to not eat
in the hotel and instead crossed the street to a Brewery Café which we had
discount coupons for. I ordered a sea
food platter and they told me they were out of shrimp so they gave me extra fish. It was a huge serving. At a next table a customer had their cheese
burger and it was as large as any I have ever seen. My meal cost less than the hotel and I had a
lot more than I would have at the hotel.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After our meal we walked back to the hotel to rearrange our
luggage for the long flight home in the morning.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Sunday, January 26,
2014:</b> Fly Port Vila, Vanuatu to LAX via Auckland, New Zealand<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We ate breakfast at 07:00 and returned to our room to finish
packing. Our cab was scheduled to arrive
at 09:00 to take us to the airport.
Check-in and security was quick and easy. I was flying on Air New Zealand so I had a
pass to the VIP Lounge. It was not very
large but it was air conditioned, had free Wi-Fi and cold drinks.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We walked to the plane and as we left the parking spot a
heavy rain storm hit. We were lucky that
all of us were on board before it rained.
The plane still took off at noon landing in Auckland at 17:00 local
time. Our bags were checked through to
LAX but I had to retrieve a bag of winter gear that I had stored after the
expedition so I had to go through passport control and then get my bag, and receive
a new boarding pass with the additional luggage tag number.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We only had a two hour connection. I went up to the Air New Zealand Lounge
hooked up my laptop and had a small lunch.
A thunder Storm hit the area and the lounge had two leaks. I sat there watching the staff placing
buckets under the leaking water. At
18:00 I walked to the gate and found Bob reading a book. The plane was there and the crew arrived when
but they were stopped from going on the plane.
The gate agent explained that the plane had been delayed landing due to
the thunder storm and it was still being cleaned and refueled. The outside of the plane was painted as an
advertisement for the Hobbit movie. When
the refueling completed the crew was allowed to board the aircraft and start
their pre-flight preparations.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We boarded an hour late and departed Auckland an hour late
at 20:15. I sat in an inside aisle with
an empty seat next to me. I tried to set
up my laptop and write in my journal but the people in front of me reclined
their seats and I couldn’t use the laptop.
I had seen the movies that were offered on earlier flights so I watched
a number of TV comedy shows until after dinner was complete and the treys
picked up. I was able to fall asleep for
about three hours when I was awakened by the flight attendants running back and
forth. I had the flight map display on
and saw that we were headed for Honolulu.
I got up to go to the rest room and found the one in my cabin to have a
sign that it was out of order so I walked to the rear and while waiting for the
toilet to be available found out from a flight attendant that we were being
diverted for a medical emergency. We
were too heavy to land at Fiji or Samoa so we were heading for Hawaii. I later learned that a woman had a
miscarriage in the restroom that had the sign on the door.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We landed in Honolulu and were told to stay in our seats
with our seat belts unfastened and all electrical equipment off as they were
refueling the aircraft. I tried to sleep
on the four hour flight to LAX but didn’t sleep very much. We landed at LAX at 13:30, three hours later
than the scheduled time. I quickly
passed through passport control using the Fast Pass kiosk. My bags were the first two off the carousel
and I was embarrassed because so many people either missed their connecting
flight or had a short time to get to their next flight and were waiting on
their bag and here I was terminating and the first one to exit baggage
claim. My bubble burst when there was no
one from the car service to greet me. I
walked out to the Prime Time Shuttle stand and asked the agent to call dispatch
and find out the status of my driver. I
gave him my reservation number. There
appeared to be some confusion trying to locate my driver. An hour and several calls later they finally
decided to get met a dedicated Prime Time Van to drive me home at 15:15 an hour
and forty five minutes after landing I left the airport. My fee was refunded the next day.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
The trip had been another adventure with few dull or routine
moments.<o:p></o:p></div>
Edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03034021752003929779noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2230692068076603436.post-55571367211143965762014-05-27T22:11:00.000-07:002014-05-27T22:11:20.714-07:00Indian Ocean Islands Tour January 2014<div style="border-bottom: solid #4F81BD 1.0pt; border: none; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: accent1; mso-element: para-border-div; padding: 0in 0in 4.0pt 0in;">
<div class="MsoTitle">
<b>Overview:</b> I
started 2014 with a two week expedition to rarely visited Sub-Antarctic islands
south of New Zealand in the Southern Ocean and my next adventure was to fly to
Perth, Australia and then visit two, rarely visited by Americans, Australian
islands, in the Indian Ocean: Cocos (Keeling) Islands and Christmas Island.</div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Advantage Travel & Tours group I had started with on
the expedition in the Southern Ocean to sub-Antarctic islands had dwindled to
five of us to visit the Indian Ocean islands (Laurie
Campbell, Bob Ihsen, Del and Linda McCuen).<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Sunday, January 12,
2014:</b> Fly Auckland to Perth, Australia<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I woke at 07:00 and showered, shaved and packed and then
logged on to my email and continued the effort to sort through read and delete
up to the time I had to leave for the airport.
We took a Super Shuttle to the airport and I left the group of Bob
Ihsen, Laurie and the McCuen’s to find a Bag Storage facility to leave my bag
of cold weather gear until I came back through Auckland on the 26<sup>th</sup>
from Vanuatu. There was one next to the
Air New Zealand Premier check in. I
checked in for the flight, dropped off the bag for storage and entered security
through a special line for Premier’s. It
was a fancy setup. From there I went to
the Air New Zealand Lounge, ate breakfast and continued to process email until
my flight was called.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The flight was full.
I had an aisle seat in the middle and was relatively comfortable. I watch three movies: Rush, The Millers, and Runner
Runner. Rush was a Golden Globe
nominee. The meal was good not great and
we landed ahead of schedule.
Unfortunately the gate was still occupied so we had to wait on the ramp
about thirty minutes before we got to the gate.
The McCuen’s were in the section ahead of me and Laurie and Bob were
sitting behind me. I didn't see any of
them as I walked to the Passport control hall.
There I saw a sign that said if you had a passport with a chip embedded
you could use a kiosk to process through and not have to stand in line. I used the kiosk but it said I still needed
to see an agent but the line from the kiosk to the agent was short so I cleared
in a short period of time. Why ahead of
the others. I then went to baggage claim
and saw that the bags from our flight were listed as arriving on belt 2. I waited a long time it seemed and then the
crowd around belt 2 moved to belt 1 and there I saw my bag. I exited the hall and still didn’t see any
members of my group so I exchanged money and inquired about transportation to
the hotel. A sign said for $18 you could
take a bus to hotels. I returned to the
hall and waited for the group to come out.
When they did I told them about the bus.
Everyone exchanged money and we proceeded outside where there was a
bus. The driver told us he only shuttled
between the International and Domestic Terminals. The bus to the hotels only left from the
Domestic Terminal and didn't leave until 18:00.
It was only 17:00 so we decided to take a cab. We found a cab that would fit the five of us
and our luggage and only cost $60. We
piled in and found it to be a sweat box.
It wasn't until we got almost to the hotel before we discovered an
additional air conditioning vent to the back seat.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My room was large with an outlet next to the bed. I setup and still could not connect to Judy. At last I caught up on my emails and went to
the hotel restaurant to have dinner. I
ordered a Caesar salad and Bob joined me.
When I returned to my room I watched some TV and went to bed at 22:00.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Monday, January 13,
2014:</b> Tour Perth, Australia<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The five time zone shift from New Zealand to Perth affected
my sleep. I first woke at 3Am, went back
to sleep then woke every hour and went back to sleep until 7AM when I decided
to getup. I spent some time on the
computer trying to contact Judy on Skype without success. I did talk to Wendy and she told me that
Judy had trouble with her Skype login.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At 08:00 I went down to breakfast and saw Laurie just
finishing her breakfast. We agreed to
meet at 09:15 to take a bus to Fremantle for a tour. Knowing Laurie would not want to stop for
lunch I ate a larger breakfast than usual.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Bob Ihsen met me in the lobby at 09:15 and reported that the
McCuen’s were not going to join us for the tour. He had researched and found the bus number to
take to Fremantle. Laurie soon arrived
and we walked to the bus stop and found we had just missed the bus to Fremantle
by a couple of minutes. They ran every
ten minutes so we caught the next one around 09:30. It was a pleasant ride to Fremantle. A gentleman on the bus gave us some advice as
to the best stop we should take to visit the Fremantle Prison, the main
attraction of our Fremantle tour.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We exited the bus near Shuffry St and walked back to Ord
Street which had a sign pointing to the prison.
We walked along Fremantle Park past the Fremantle Art Center until we
reached the back side of the Prison and then down the street to the front
entrance. We bought tickets for the
11:00 tour at about 10:50.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The tour took a little over an hour. It was fascinating to learn about the life of
the convicts sent from England to serve their sentences for sometimes minor
crimes of poverty in the Australia Penal System. The Fremantle Prison was the largest in
Western Australia and the source of labor to build the infrastructure of the
region. It was used up to 1991.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At the end of the tour we had a cold drink in the snack bar
and plotted our next move. We had
several maps with different lists of places to see and we decided to walk down
to the information center and get their walking tour advice and maps. It was about a 15 minute walk down a slope to
the town hall where the information center was located. They were very helpful and provided us with
walking tour maps and urged us to take the train back to Perth as an
alternative to the bus so we would see another area of the two cities.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The walking tour had 27 points of interest and it took us
about an hour and one half to complete the circuit. Along the way we walked down the High Street
Mall, past the coffee houses, the market, the Esplanade Hotel, the park, the
water front, harbor, beach, the Round House (last of the original buildings in
the settlement), the Submarine Ovens, and eventually the railway station. It was a beautiful day and not as hot as it
had been over the weekend. I took a lot
of pictures of buildings, some of which dated back to the 1800’s.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The train ride back to the city only took about 35
minutes. We then walked down to the Bell
Tower, the main attraction in the city.
Along the way we passed the Post Office which has a water jet in front
that children were playing in. It was
great fun to watch. From the Bell Tower
we walked along the edge of the river until we were abeam of our hotel and
turned to cross a park and up a street to the street our hotel was on. It had been a great day of site seeing and
walking.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Back in the room I logged on to my computer and saw the
results of the Golden Globe Awards, wrote some emails and updated my journal
until 18:30 when I met Laurie and Bob for dinner. We walked down to an Irish Pub in the Novotel
Hotel. I ordered Fish and Chips, Bob
Bangers and Mash, Laurie Salmon salad.
They messed up the order and my order didn’t arrive until after Bob had
finished. The waiter apologized and gave
us another round of drinks but it was after 20:00 when Laurie and I left the
Pub.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Back in the room I wrote in my journal and went to bed
before 22:00.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Tuesday, January 14, 2014:</b> Fly
Perth to the Cocos (Keeling) Islands via Christmas Island<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I woke at 03:40 and was able to connect with Judy via
Skype. Wendy had helped her get her
Skype working again on her desk top but this morning’s call was done via her
iPhone. After the call I showered,
shaved, packed and checked out. Bob was
already in the lobby. The taxi service
sent a van so the ride to the airport was more comfortable than we experienced
arriving.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At the airport I checked in at the priority desk thinking
that Virgin Australia was a Star Alliance Partner. The agent thought it was and entered my United
Mileage Plus number in the flight record and told me to go to the Singapore
Airlines Lounge at the Departure level.
There were very few passengers in the terminal and the Passport and
security check had no lines. The passport
control agent wanted to know how I found the heat over the weekend. When I told him I was used to it in
California he remarked that they weren’t used to it in Perth even though they
have sunny days most of the year.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Singapore Airlines Lounge agent rejected my entry. It turned out that Virgin Australia is an Air
New Zealand partner but is not a Star Alliance partner.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I hadn’t had any breakfast and the flight to the islands was
going to be on an Embraer 190 and I didn’t think they would serve a hot meal on
that size aircraft so I bought a grilled ham, cheese and tomato sandwich. Bob joined me and eventually Laurie.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The plane loaded on time.
I was assigned an aisle seat in row 12 and Linda and Del were across the
aisle. The plane looked full but later I
learned that there were empty seats near the rear. I was comfortable and didn’t move. My seat companion was a nurse that had worked
on both Cocos and Christmas Islands and gave me advice on what to do while I
was visiting. I had a hard time
understanding her accent so I didn’t get all the details she provided.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The routing was kind of weird. We flew to Christmas Island and disembarked
with our carry-on, processed through security and then boarded the same
aircraft but with a different flight number.
While we were waiting to board I talked with the nurse. She had worked throughout Africa, India and
Asia. She wanted to know what was my
favorite country and I think was disappointed when I told her it was the United
States and that San Francisco was my favorite city to visit although it used to
be Hong Kong. She liked India which is
not high on my list. I told her I found
it interesting to visit but not a place that I would want to live like London
or Paris. I think she was surprised.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When we boarded the aircraft I was assigned the same seat
but as soon as we took off the passenger in the seat in front of me reclined
the seat fully and I moved several rows back.
It was a shorter flight than the first leg. The time zone in Cocos Island was one and a
half hour earlier than Perth (same as Rangoon).<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When we arrived we were greeted outside the arrival terminal
by a lady from the Cocos Castaway Resort.
She led us across the road and down to buildings to the building Bob,
Laurie and I were assigned. It was 13:30
and she told us the pub would close at 14:00 and that it was a holiday and most
everything was closed. Dinner was
scheduled for 18:00.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The room Bob and I would share was large with a kitchen and
a washing machine. Next to one of the
beds was a power strip so I took that bed and Bob was happy because the other
bed was closer to the bathroom.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We dumped our bags in the room and walked over to the pub
for a cold drink before it closed. The
bartender was a character and we chatted until closing at 14:00. Bob returned to our cabin but I went
exploring. It didn't take long to see
all the buildings in the area of the airport.
Across from our cabin was the Information Center which was closed for
the holiday. I walked around it and then
walked to the beach. I was contemplating
going swimming and returned to my cabin to unpack and change into my bathing
suit.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When I unpacked my laptop I found that I could connect to
the Internet but needed to purchase service.
It was a catch 22. They only used
PayPal to purchase the service and I couldn't connect to PayPal without having
service. I guessed that I would have to
sign up at the Information Center.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Since I had set up my laptop I decided to update my journal
and didn't go swimming. At 17:00 I went
for a walk and ran into Linda and Del.
They were just returning from a walk and reported that the jungle up the
road was full of flies. Laurie walked
past and I walked over to the runway and discovered that a Navy P-3 was parked
on the ramp. Earlier we had heard a prop
plane land so I guess that it was the P-3.
I then walked down to the beach and found terrific erosion. There was about a ten foot drop and there was
caution tape strung along the edge.
Several palm trees that had fallen looked like it was a recent
event. I walked along the edge, past the
Castaway cabins and behind the clinic back to the road.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Across the road was Dory’s Cafe which was closed and I
continued down the road looking for a place to access the beach. A local named Jeff came out and introduced
himself. He told there was a swimming
hole a little way down the road but it the area in back of the Castaway was not
a place to swim. It had a very rocky
bottom and the beach was littered with downed palm trees and trash. It was getting close to dinner so I thanked
Jeff and returned to my cabin. On the
way I passed by the Supermarket which was closed.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Dinner was a little bit of a shock. It was an all you can eat buffet of roast
chicken pieces, beef casserole, fried fish, pasta, rice, salads, and steamed
vegetables. It cost $33 and their credit
card machine was not working. It wiped
out my cash. I had a piece of fish, some
beef and a lot of salad. We ate outside
and hoped to catch a photo of the sun setting below the ocean but there was a
cloud bank and the sun disappeared into it and the next thing we knew it was
dark.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Back at our cabin Laurie had difficulty lowering her window
shades. I experimented on one of ours
and it was tricky but I thought I could get it to work so I went over to her
cabin and after several attempts we got her shades down and the sliding glass
door blinds closed. I returned to our
cabin and I eventually got our shades down but I had to go outside to close the
patio door blinds.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Bob was writing in his journal so after getting ready for
bed I updated my journal. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Wednesday, January
15, 2014:</b> Tour Cocos (Keeling) Islands<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I slept rather well although Bob got up many times to go to
the bathroom and the door slides on rollers that would wake me up. A little after six Bob got up and took a
shower. I got up before 06:30 and
showered and shaved. At 07:00 we went
for a walk. Most everything opens at
08:00. I was able to talk to a lady in
an office and she was no help. She just
told me to wait until 08:00 for the ATM and the Internet voucher. I walked down to the Restaurant and found Laurie
and the McCuen’s eating breakfast.
Laurie was having the Continental breakfast for $19 and the McCuen’s the
cooked breakfast for $24. The credit
card machine was still out of order and the cook said use the ATM machine.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I returned to my cabin and was not a happy camper. We had not been warned that we could not use
credit cards to buy our food on the island.
I think it is outrageous that the ATM is locked up and that nothing is
open on a holiday when so few flights come in.
As far as I am concerned the first day was a bust because of the
holiday. I guess I am spoiled by living
in California where at least ATM’s and Supermarkets are open on holidays. The irony is the holiday was a Muslim Holiday
on a Muslim Island in a Christian country and the one thing open was the
restaurant which was staffed by Muslims. The island atoll has been Muslim since its
first inhabitants who were “Trading Malay”.
They mainly live on the Home Island whereas the airport and our cabins
where on the West Island which is populated by Australians. It is a thirty minute ferry ride between the
two islands. In the atoll there is also
South Island, North Keeling Island, Horsburgh Island and Direction Island.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At 08:00 I crossed the street to the Information
Center. I was still grumpy and told the
staff that they should have the ATM in the airport or at least open on holidays
for a period when the bi-weekly flight arrives.
I withdrew $100 from the ATM and then talked to them about the crazy
internet. They never have tested the
sign-in so they were not able to help me.
I purchased a 1 day voucher and then walked to Dory’s Café to have
breakfast.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Dory’s Café’s credit card machine was working and I had a
nice egg on toast with bacon and English Breakfast Tea for $25.50. When I returned to the cabin, Bob told me
that the island tour had been postponed until 11:00. I then went to the Supermarket and bought
some items for lunch, a can of tuna, a packet of flat bread, some crackers,
fiber bars and iced tea.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
With time to kill I tried to get my email. It took a very long time before I got to the
screen to enter my voucher code. When I
did I got a message that the internet service was down so I couldn’t connect to
my email. It was then time to walk back
to Dory’s Café to meet the electric bus for our island tour at 11:00.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ray Marshall, owner of AAA Cocos Tours picked us up in an
open electric mini bus that sat 12 (a large golf cart would also describe it). He started out driving us around the airport
terminal area explaining that it was the center of the settlement on West
Island. He pointed out the Supermarket,
Dive Shop, Fire House, the school, the Golf Course, and the school. He then drove past the terminal, the Tropika
Restaurant, the Pub, the various resort cabins, and the light industry
area. From there he drove north
explaining the history of the island and stopped at “The Shack” where the surf
boards are stored and used when the surf is up.
There is no fear that someone would steal a surfboard so rather than lug
them from home and back they are just stored at “The Shack”. The area had a wooden walkway to the beach
and a small covered picnic table with solar powered lights and a brick
BBQ. Back in the bus he drove us through
an area called the Cocos Tropical Food – Farm Project. An area that was cleared and soil imported to
grow fruits and vegetables and raise chickens goats and ducks. Past a burned out area and the farm buildings
we rode through a jungle trail and stopped to walk alone a path full of crab
holes to a fresh water lagoon. It had
some chairs and a table and Ray told us it was a favorite spot for bird
watchers.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Back on the paved road we drove to North Point, the end of
the island where there is a long wooden wharf and the fuel tank farm. All vehicles have to drive up to this point
to refuel. The area was also where they
filled sand bags that are used to stop erosion of the coast.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The sand bags are not like I have commonly seen. The sand bags where made of a thick felt
material and stood 5 feet tall and were 3 by 3 feet wide. They used a special sewing machine to stitch
the top closed. There were a hundred or
so bags stored in the area.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our next stop was Trannies Beach (Named after the nearby
radio transmission tower), the best swimming beach on the island. It had two picnic shelters, a brick BBQ and a
restroom. The edge of the beach was
protected by three layers of sand bags.
A wide area was free of rocks and coral enabling swimmers to walk out to
an area for snorkeling or for the kids and area protected from the waves were
they could safely play in the water.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
From the beach which was on the west or ocean side of the
island we rode to the Rumah Baru Jetty on the east side of the island where the
ferry to the other islands departs. It
was a new multi-million dollar structure of concrete with aluminum railings. It was a very impressive site.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ray continued to tell us the history of the island and the
politics and differences between the mostly Malay Muslims that live on the Home
Island and the mostly Caucasian Aussies that live on the West Island. He mentioned that the USAF was rumored to
want to establish a base on the island.
He also agreed with our observation that the island tourist
administration does not appear to go out of its way to encourage and welcome
tourists to the island.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He dropped us off so we could get ready for our afternoon
ferry to Home Island. He had not
completed the tour and agreed to pick us up the next morning at 09:00 to
complete the tour of the southern area of West Island and then drop us off at
Trannies Beach for two hours so we could swim and snorkel and then pick us back
up and deliver us to our cabins.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Since we hadn’t eaten lunch, I went to the supermarket and
bought a can of tuna, some burrito bread, crackers, mayo, energy bars and some
ice tea. Back in the cabin I fixed some
rolled tuna sandwiches for Bob and myself.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At 14:20 we caught the island bus for a $.50 ride to the
Jetty. The ferry arrived at 15:00. It was also new, a catamaran hull, with a
large seating area with a TV screen on the main deck and about thirty aluminum
seats on the top deck. It took less than
thirty minutes to cross between the islands and ran every thirty minutes during
daylight hours. Wednesday was the one
day of the week when it ran at night and that was why the tour we went on only
was scheduled on Wednesdays.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The nurse that sat next to me on the flight from Perth to
Christmas Island was on the ferry. She
told me she lives on Home Island and works two days a week at the clinic on
West Island.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Home Island wharf was nowhere near as fancy as the West
Island Jetty and when we docked we were met by Osman 'Ozzie' Macrae, our guide
for a tour of the Home Island. In
addition to the five of us a family of five joined us for the tour. We walked off the wharf to a table under some
trees along the water’s edge. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ozzie started by telling us the history of the Home Island,
the island’s people and his family and personal history. Some of his version of the history differed
from Ray’s. We immediately sensed that
the people of Home Island and West Island have different views of history and
how the islands have and should develop.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He started with the facts that in 1609 Captain William
Keeling, a merchant seaman and adventurer exploring the East for the East India
Company, discovered the islands during one of his voyages from Java to England,
then in 1825 Captain John Clunies-Ross, a Scottish trader, lands on the islands
on a homeward voyage from the East Indies.
He surveyed the islands, digs some wells and plants some fruit
trees. Captain John Clunies-Ross then
contacts a friend in Borneo and asks him to bring some men to the island and
harvest the coconuts. So in 1826
Alexander Hare, and a group of his slaves are brought to the islands by the
Captain’s brother Robert Clunies-Ross. Hare
sets up the first settlement on Home Island.
The following year Captain John Clunies-Ross and party arrive and settle
on another of the islands in the group but later moves to South Island due to a
falling out with Hare. A couple of years
later Hare exports the first coconut oil from islands to England. Hare’s operation occupies Home, Horsburgh,
Direction and Prison Islands with a total of 98 en-slaved persons, mainly of
Malay decent.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
By 1831 increasing disputes between Alexander Hare and John
Clunies-Ross result in Hare leaving the islands and John Clunies-Ross assumes
control of the islands and the slaves. In
1886 Queen Victoria grants the islands to George Clunies-Ross and his
descendants. He built a mansion he
called Oceania House using tiles and bricks from Scotland which was completed
in 1893. After his death his descendants
continued to rule the island.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The coconut operation thrived and the number of workers
increased to over 2,000 who lived and worked on the island in awful working
conditions. They were paid 700 Rupees in
plastic ‘coins’ a month for collecting and husking 700 coconuts per day. The men did the collecting and husking while
the women did the processing of the coconuts into oil. No outsiders were allowed on Home Island.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The islands had been a territory of Singapore but In 1955
Cocos (Keeling) Islands 'officially' become an Australian Territory and the Australian
Government established a permanent presence on West Island. In the late 1960’s John Cecil Clunies-Ross requested
Home Rule (internal self-government) from the Australian government which
resulted in the Australian government inviting a UN committee of 24 to visit
and report on the Cocos (Keeling) Islands.
The report documented the pay in fake money, the lack of schools, no
electricity, and almost slave-like working conditions. In reaction to the report, in 1978 the
Australian Government purchased all of the Clunies-Ross land on Cocos Islands
for Australian $6.25 million, less Oceania House and 5 hectares surrounding it.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Union organizers came in and the Cocos Islands Workers
Co-Operative Society was established as the commercial arm of the community, to
run the copra industry, building construction, maintenance and stevedoring. The workers had been paid on the each coconut
processed but were then salaried and the incentive to maximize the daily
production diminished and by 1980 the island's copra industry ceased operation
and many Malays left for Malaysia and the Australian mainland.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A second UN visiting mission was sent to the islands in 1980
resulting in legislation for compulsory education of Cocos residents. Extensive preparations were then undertaken
by the government of Australia to prepare the Cocos Malays to vote in a
referendum of self-determination. Discussions
began in 1982, with an aim of holding the referendum, under United Nations
supervision, in mid-1983.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Under guidelines developed by the UN Decolonization
Committee, residents were offered 3 choices: full independence, free
association, or integration with Australia. The people were told that schools free
medical, electricity, and typhoon resistant houses would be provided if they
integrated with Australia. The vote was
held on 6 April 1984, with all 261 eligible islanders participating, including
the Clunies-Ross family: 229 voted for integration, 21 for Free Association, 9
for independence, and 2 failed to indicate a preference. So, in 1984, Home Islanders became Australian
citizens.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ozzie told us his father had left but returned and he had
been born in Malaysia and had attended school in Australia where his mother now
lives. His father practiced the Muslim
faith as did almost all the residence of Home Island did and had many wives and
21 children.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We had been told by Ray on the morning tour that there was a
high rate of unemployment on Home Island implying that the locals were content
to fish and live off the “dole”. Ozzie
was asked about it and he was very defensive claiming the Manager of
Unemployment payments was the source of the information in a statement to the
press without checking his facts. He
calculated the percentage of workers as a percentage of the total population of
Home Island not factoring in children, mothers and the aged. He claimed that there were very few able bodied
locals that were not working.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>I
fact checked his statements and found that in May 2012 there was an article in
an Australian TV station documenting abuse and fraud of welfare claims. The CIA World Factbook lists the unemployment
rate at 60% in their December 2013 list but it was based on a 2000 report.<o:p></o:p></i><br />
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After the lengthy background talk we started the tour. We were supposed to be driven in an electric
carts but he had a battery problem so he had two vehicles and asked the woman
in the family group with us to drive and follow him. I got in the Kawasaki “Mule” open vehicle (manufactured
in Lincoln, Nebraska, city of my graduate school, the University of
Nebraska). Ozzie was driving along with
Laurie, Bob and the two children from the family. The McCuen’s rode in the other vehicle. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We rode down concrete block paved streets past rows of
identically constructed concrete cottages with metal roofs and front
porches. Some were very nicely decorated
and some had their front yards full of plants and flowers.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We stopped at the new High School and walked around. The term ‘High School’ did not mean the same
as in the US. The Home Island High School
only teaches students in Kindergarten to year 6. From year 7 to 10 they attend school on West
Island. For year 11 and 12 they have to
go to Christmas Island or the main land.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The building has an open covered area between two rows of
classrooms and offices. At one end was a
two story high mural with pictures of all the colorful fish found in the local
waters painted by a local artist. A
picture of each student showed that 43 students attended last year. The school was closed for the summer break.
(Remember I was “down under”).<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Leaving the school we also left the paved street and rode
through the trees towards the Oceania House or as some call it the “Big
House”. Ozzie told us that members of
the Clunies Ross family were in town and charge a $20 admission per person fee
to tour the house so he drove to an open stoned fence field next door. Through a door in the high fence we could see
buildings that makeup the estate. The closest
building was two stories with a balcony running the length of the building and
doors every 30 feet. It reminded me of
the servant’s quarters on the plantation I visited in November on the island of
Principe in the country of Sao Tome and Principe. Ozzie claims it was just a warehouse but it
may now be used as one but it looked like it was built as a school, living
quarters or an administration building.
From our vantage point all we could see of the Big House were windows
and outside stairs.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We then rode to a jetty nearby. As we walked to the dock we passed a large
fiberglass object that looked like it might have once been a bathtub or a crude
boat. Ozzie told us it had washed up on
shore and had been dragged to its current position. A few feet away were two large round stones
next to a pit of the same size. A sign
above them read:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: 1.5in;">
<i>These grinding wheels were used
to make oil from the Jarak plant. This
oil was used to stop corrosion on tools and was painted on to wood to stop
termites. The wheels may also have been
used to crush or grind shells and rocks to make bricks for the big house,
watchtower, old school and other buildings.</i><br />
<i>Year 3 and 4 class,</i><br />
<i> Home Island Campus 2006</i><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: 6.0in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We got back in the vehicles and rode past a Mosque under
construction next to the current Mosque.
Ozzie told us it had been under construct for a long time but the main
prayer room was finished and in use. I
ask him where the Imam came from and he told me that there were several and
that the position rotates among the elders of the community.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We stopped in the parking lot of the community center where
we could use the facilities. Then we
walked across the street and into the back of a house belonging to an old
couple. The backyard addition to the
house had an open air cover with a roof over a shop filled with wood working
and metal working tools. We were
introduced to an old man who invited us to sit down while he served us a fruit
punch drink and sweet bananas.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ozzie explained the traditional trade of the islands while
the old man sat weaving a basket with grass reeds. It took him a little more than five minutes
to weave a sturdy wine bottle size basket.
Above me handing in a tree were baskets he had woven that had dried from
their green to a brown color but were just as strong.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Next the old man showed us how to husk a coconut, take the
nut and open it. He had the girl’s
father try to husk a coconut. Next he
opened a nut and shed it to make coconut milk and coconut oil. It was a great session. He offered to sell cups fashioned from the
coconut halves. They would have been two
large to fit in our luggage and we passed but the family bought some items.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The sun was beginning to set so we rode to Sunset Point. We had an unobstructed view of the setting
sun but a sea level cloud bank prevented us from seeing it sink below the
horizon. A short drive away was the
‘Pulu KoKos Museum Cultural and Heritage Precinct’ opened in 2008. It contained local artifacts and a very
detailed Historical Chronology of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands which I found
very informative and helped validate Ozzies early recital of the islands
history. When he is not conducting tours
he worked cleaning the museum so he has an almost daily opportunity to memorize
the history. One thing he had not
mentioned in his introduction talk was Boat Building. Captain John Clunies-Ross was a shipwright
and passed on his skill to his decedents. Boats were locally built to transport the
coconuts between the islands and the processing plants and to the ships that
would transport them to Singapore and England.
There also were displays that described the influence of outsiders
brought to the islands by war.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The war historical events listed were:<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> <i>
</i></span></span><!--[endif]--><i>1901 Eastern Extension Telegraph Station
establishes a relay cable station on Direction Island. Cables go to Rodrigues,
Mauritius, which then links to Durban, South Africa, also to Batavia, Java,
which then links to Singapore and also to Fremantle, Western Australia.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><i><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->1910 A Wireless Station is established to
communicate with passing ships.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><i><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->1914 Cocos Cable Station is attacked by the
German raider SMS Emden. The Emden is defeated by the Australian light cruiser
HMAS Sydney and beached on the reef at North Keeling Island in what is now Pulu
Keeling National Park.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><i><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->1941 Ceylon Garrison Artillery establishes 2 x
6-inch guns on Horsburgh Island.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><i><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->1942 February: a naval bombardment from a
Japanese submarine causes slight damage to the Cable Station.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><i><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->March: A Japanese warship shells Direction
Island; false wireless message send 'Direction Island knocked out', shell holes
are painted on side of buildings and huge decoy fires convince Japanese that
the relay station is destroyed. Station continues to operate in secret.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><i><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->1943 Qantas begins a non-stop service across the
Indian Ocean between Perth and Colombo via Cocos Islands; they flew 5700 kms
and averaged 27-30 hours in the air. The
service was terminated in 1946 after 824 crossings had been made.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><i><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->A regular Japanese air raid from Java visits
Cocos weekly, several Islanders are killed and Home Island homes destroyed.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><i><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->1944 Major bombing raids kill two Islanders and
destroys 27 Home Island houses.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><i><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->1945 Several thousand British servicemen build
and operate a RAF bomber base and Air Staging Post on West Island. The bomber and fighter planes of 11 RAF
squadrons are based on Cocos Islands until the end of WW2.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><i><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Operation Cockroach begins, an 1828-meter
airstrip is constructed on West Island in two months. During peak of runway construction 8300
military personnel are on Cocos.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><i><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->1951 The Australian Government purchases 367
acres for an aerodrome on West Island.
500 RAAF commence airstrip construction.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><i><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->1952 Qantas begins commercial flights through
Cocos to Johannesburg and Singapore.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><i><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->1954 The Queen visits Cocos Islands on
Britannia.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><i><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->1974 Despite the operation of the airport on
West Island the Prime Minister of Australia stated: “There is no part of the
world where things have changed so little.”</i><o:p></o:p><br />
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
While we were touring the museum Ozzie was setting up our
dinner in an open sided pavilion between the museum building and the shore, a
short walk to the ferry terminal. It was
a fabulous Malay dinner with fish and meats with spices he told us that his wife
and family members had contributed recipes.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After the meal we walked to the wharf and boarded the ferry
for the ride back to West Island and the bus to our Resort.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It had been a long day and I didn't even attempt to write in
my journal.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Thursday, January 16,
2014:</b> Tour Cocos Island<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I ate breakfast at 08:00 at Dory’s Café and then rented
snorkeling fins and mask at the information center. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We met with Ray at 08:30 to complete the rest of our West
Island tour. He drove us out to the Air
Force Road which parallels the runway and then southeast along the golf course,
past the school to a beautiful sandy beach bay at Scout Park. There was a recreation center built there
with picnic tables, BBQ pits and a stage.
Island parties are held there with live music on the stage. Windsurfing is available and there was a
children’s playground. A little distance
away was the Yacht Club where they had constructed a concrete brick boat ramp.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ray then drove us back to our bungalows where the Bob got
off and the McCuen’s put on their swim suits and got their snorkeling gear and
rejoined Laurie and me for a drive north to Trannies Beach where he dropped us
off to swim and snorkel for a couple of hours.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There were two mothers with their girls already in the
water. One of the mothers we had
met. She was from Port Jefferson, Long
Island, New York, across Long Island Sound from Westport, Connecticut where I
went to High School. She is married to
the island Meteorologist. They had
recently started a three year contract after living in Virginia. There were two picnic tables and Laurie, the
McCuens and I set up on one. There was a
drop to get down to the beach. The wall
was reinforced by sand bags so it was easy to walk down to the beach on the
sand bags. The beach wasn’t very wide to
the water but there was a sandy path between coral rocks leading to a shallow
area the kids could play in. Beyond the
shallow area there was a lot more coral which formed a buffer between the deep
water and pounding surf and the “swimming hole”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Laurie and I waded in past the pool area and started to
snorkel in an area with lots of coral.
The coral was not very colorful with rare exceptions but the fish were
with a large variety is size, type and colors.
I snorkeled around for almost an hour, rarely sticking my head above the
water and generally in a depth where I could stand on smooth coral if I wanted
to. After a while the McCuens joined us
and I think another couple was in the area but there was enough beautiful fish
and coral formations where the fish swam in and out of that we didn’t run into
each other. After the hour I decided I
was probably losing the sun screen on my back and my head which isn’t exposed
to sun very often was probably getting sun burned so I got out.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Laurie quit about the same time and decide to walk on the
“Bi-Centennial Trail” in the rain forest along the beach line towards the art
center south of Trannies Beach. I joined
her and we walked for about thirty minutes and then returned. The McCuens had stopped snorkeling and the
tide was coming in with an increase in waves into the “swimming hole”. In the deeper water we could see small
harmless black-tip reef sharks swimming in the area we had been snorkeling. It was 13:00 and Ray arrived to take us back
to the Castaway.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I had a tuna lunch and an apple that I had bought at the
Supermarket in the bungalow. Bob was
writing in his notebook so I went for a walk down past the golf course to take
a close up picture of the Air Force Road sign.
Below the road name was an inscription that read:<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“<i>This aerodrome originally
established during the 1939-45 war by the R.A.F and reconstructed by No. 2
Airfield Construction Squadron R.A.A.F in 1952</i>”.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I then walked past the school and past the Administrator’s
house and back to the Castaway. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At 17:30 Bob and I walked to the pub for the special ‘Malay
Food Night’. The Malay food on the menu
was a choice of:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Curry Puffs</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Spring Rolls</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Chicken Satays</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Sushi</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Peri Peri Chicken Burgers</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Peri Peri Chicken Salad</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Octopus Salad with Rice PawPaw Salad</span></li>
</ul>
<!--[if !supportLists]--><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We had a drink at the bar waiting for the rest of our group
to arrive. Bob had a Diet Coke and I had
a “James Squire One Fifty Lashes Pale Ale”.
It was pretty good. When the
group arrived I ordered the Peri Peri Chicken Burger. (The salads just didn’t look like they were
big enough for a meal). The pub got busy
and we met the Meteorologist and had a nice chat. The food was sold out by 19:00 and we
returned to our bungalows.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Friday, January 17,
2014:</b> Fly Cocos Island to Christmas Island<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I got up before the alarm went off, showered, shaved and
packed. Check in time for our flight to
Christmas Island was 11:00. Bob went to
breakfast at Dory’s Café and I ate the last of my yogurt and fiber bars in the
cabin. I make tea in the microwave and I
guess because the power is 220V it boiled over in two minutes. Usually in the US I find 2 to 3 minutes brews
a good cup of tea. As we waited for
check in time we read and wrote in our journals.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A few minutes before 11 Bob and I wheeled our bags over to
the terminal across the road from our cabin.
They hadn't opened the counter.
The agent told me that the baggage handlers were on the 10:30 ferry from
Home Island so she had to wait for them.
I had left my reading material in the cabin so I decided to walk back
and get it to read while we waited for the baggage handlers to arrive.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On the way Ray drove by and stopped to show me the business
card of the TCC member that had recently stayed at his place. Her name was Helene Eckstein from Golden,
Colorado. He had told us earlier that
she was a travel agent from New York City so we thought that Laurie may have
met her at a New York TCC meeting. It
turned out that Laurie did know her, has traveled with her and still
corresponds with her. She had a
traveling companion from New York who was probably with her in Cocos which we
figured created the confusion in Ray’s mind.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I picked up my reading material and returned to the
terminal. People were starting to form a
line so Bob and I got in the line and then the baggage handlers arrived as did
dozens of other people from the ferry I guessed. We got our boarding passes and returned to
our cabin to wait until the boarding time of 13:30.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I still had some tuna, cheese, crackers and sandwich wraps,
in the refrigerator so I used it make lunch.
We heard the plane land about 12:50 and decided to finally leave and go
to the terminal again. Just as we got
there the doors opened and we went to the security check area. I found it interesting that my knee didn’t
set off any alarms and I breezed through and walked to the aircraft. It was the same plane we had flown in on and
since the crew stayed over we had the same flight crew flying us to Christmas
Island.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The flight was uneventful and took an hour and a half. When we landed at Christmas Island and
entered the terminal the transit passengers were directed to the left and the
small group of us stood waiting for them to open the door to the baggage pick
up area stood on the right.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When the door was open we found our luggage was piled on a
trailer and we removed it ourselves and walked out handing our arrival card to
an agent. Cocos (Keeling) Island and
Christmas Island are Australian territories with addresses that list them as WA
(Western Australia) but the administration requires that we fill out an entry
card like we were entering Australia from a foreign country. No one could explain it.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Outside the terminal we were met by Lisa Preston from Indian
Ocean Experiences. She had a Toyota Land
Cruiser which held the five of us and most of our luggage with my carry on the
roof rack. She drove us to The Sunset
Hotel, explaining the history of the island and pointing out places on the way.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Territory of Christmas Island is a territory of
Australia in the Indian Ocean. It is
called Christmas Island because it was discovered on Christmas Day, 1643 by
Captain William Mynors of the East India Company ship, the Royal Mary. It had a population of 2,000 plus residents, the
majority being Chinese Australian who live in a number of "Settlement
areas" on the northern tip of the island.
We rode through the settlements of: Drumsite and Poon Saan, then by
Silver City and down a steep curving road to Flying Fish Cove and finally to
Settlement where The Sunset Hotel was located.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The island's isolation (it did not lay on any trade routes)
and a history of minimal human disturbance have led to a high level of uniqueness
among its flora and fauna, which is of significant interest to scientists and
naturalists. Over half the island is an
Australian national park with are large areas of monsoonal forest. Phosphate, deposited originally as guano, has
been mined on the island since 1888 and has been the main revenue and work
source since then.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One of the places Lisa drove us by was a restaurant she
recommended a short walk from our hotel.
She then showed us to our rooms.
Bob and I had the room on the north end of the building on the second
floor, Linda and Del next to us and Laurie next to them.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After we unpacked the five of us decided to walk to the
Supermarket and buy groceries for our breakfast and lunches. Next door and across a large parking lot from
our hotel was the Golden Bosun Tavernt.
Lisa had told us it was closed but we saw people in it so we
investigated and found that the restaurant was opening that night for the first
time in several weeks. We made a
reservation and continued on our walk to the Supermarket. Bob and I decided to buy a box of Cheerios,
yogurt, bananas, apples and drinks. For
lunch we bought a box of Tuna lunches of four packages.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We arrived back at the little road to our hotel at 17:30 and
there was a little Chinese man standing there with the Rental Car that was
reserved for us. It was in Del’s name so
he signed for it. When we polled the
group it turned out that I was the only one we recent stick shift experience so
I became the designated driver. Del had
a stick shift truck over ten years ago so he thought he could drive it but
preferred that I do the driving.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We went to dinner at the Golden Bosun at 18:30. I ordered their Fish and Chips and it was as
good as I have ever had. The dinners
ranged from $30 to $45 so it was not cheap but everyone thought their dinner
was great.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After dinner I connected to the Internet and it was very
slow so I wasn't able to read all my emails and went to bed.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Saturday, January 18,
2014:</b> Tour Christmas Island<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I woke just before 06:30 and took a shower and shaved. My computer had crashed during the night and
it took me a while and several restarts before I could get running and
connected to the internet. I was then
able to talk to Judy via Skype.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Bob and I then were setting up breakfast on the balcony when
we saw a very frustrated Laurie down below.
She told us she had locked herself out of her room and there was nobody
around from the hotel management to let her in.
I asked her if she had locked the door to the balcony and she replied
that she didn't think so. She then
decided to come up to our room and climb over the low wall onto Linda and Del’s
balcony and then across the roof to her balcony. We let her in and she successfully got back
in her apartment. I wish I had thought
of taking pictures of her crawling across the roof to the wall of her balcony.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I then had my breakfast of a bowl of Cheerios, yogurt, and
tea out on the balcony. After breakfast
I went online with my laptop and read emails.
I still had not completely caught up to all the emails I received during
the expedition when I was off line.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At 09:00 Lisa arrived and we started our tour of the island. She started out driving east around North
East Point stopping at the Phosphate Hill Cemetery where we took pictures of
some beautiful Chinese shrines. We then
proceeded south to the Christmas Island Resort.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Resort was built as a Casino Resort but no longer
functions as a casino. It has passed
through several owners and renovations and was then rented primarily to
government works. The rate for tourists
was over $200 per night so it is only used as overflow when the other hotels
are full. We didn’t go in but the lobby
looked very nice.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
From the resort we headed back north and stopped to see up
close a red crab that still had eggs crawling toward the sea. The island has tens of million red crabs. Each year at the beginning of the wet season (which
is usually October to November), the red crabs begin a migration to the coast
from their holes in the rain forest, to breed.
They blanket the roads, rocks and anything in their way. There are road signs cautioning drivers to
not run over the crabs. Roads are closed
during the migration and many roads have paths for the crabs under them with
metal grids on top for the light hoping the crabs would use them instead of the
road. The breeding day is determined by
a phase of the moon and the migration takes place in a short period of time so
it was unusual for us to see a crab still carrying eggs in mid-January.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our next stop was at ‘The Grotto’ which was a short walk
from the road to a hole in the rocks with crystal clear water and a white sandy
bottom. It would be difficult to swim in
the beautifully inviting pool but a rope around a pinnacle of rock enables
those that want to swim, to lower themselves into the pool. Lisa said you could swim out to the open
ocean from the hole but the coast is a rocky cliff so there would be nowhere to
get back to dry land without a very long swim south to a beach.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Back on the tour we rode into the Rocky Point settlement
where the island administrator lives in a nice home with a beautiful northern
view of the sea. The politically
appointed island administrator was outside his house raking leaves. We then rode past our hotel and the Flying
Fish Cove where Lisa pointed out the Post Office, the Mosque, Kampong
settlement, and then up a narrow winding road to Tai Jin House the original
home of the Administrator of the Island.
It is affectionately known locally as "Buck House" and had
expansive gardens and was used for community events. The grounds provide excellent views
overlooking Flying Fish Cove but a former Administrator thought it projected
the wrong message living in a grand house overlooking the island settlements so
he moved to a house in Rocky Point.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A little way past Tai Jin House was a restored gun installed
by the British Navy in 1941 along with buildings that were used to defend the
Cove during the Second World War. Lisa
told us it was used just once on a Japanese submarine. There was a plaque on the wall near the gun
that listed the six British solders that were killed in defense of the island
in March 1942.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We then drove back past the cove and up the hill on Murray
Road, turned off to drive through Silver City and back to Murray Road and on to
Territory Day Park where there was a picnic spot, with BBQ and playground
equipment and The Nursery lookout. The
lookout overlooked Flying Fish Cove, the Kampong, Settlement and the shipping
operations.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Driving back down to the Settlement we had Lisa drop us off
at the Information Center across from the Supermarket. I picked up some guides and maps of the
island and then walked back to the lodge.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We ate lunch in our room and at 13:00 set out to explore the
island in the rental car. Linda and Del
decided to explore on their own so it was just Bob, Laurie and me. I was the driver. Laurie had planned the trip and served as the
navigator.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We started out to Ethel Beach on the east side of the island
past the Christmas Island Resort. On the
way we stopped to take pictures of caves in the rocks along the road. Just before the Resort at the point we had
seen the red crab carrying her eggs we turned up a winding hill and then down
towards Lily Beach. The road soon became
a rocky track for four wheel drive vehicles and we stopped at the sign for
Ethel Beach. There was a boat landing
nearby and a local was just towing a boat up the grade as we approach. In the car park area a group of scuba divers
were just returning from a dive and packing up to leave. It was a short walk to the beach which I
found a little unique because the stones on the beach were shaped like
cigarettes. While we were walking around
taking pictures a young couple entered the surf with snorkeling gear and soon
swam out of sight.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We walked back to the car and drove past the boat landing up
the gravel road to the Lily Beach car park.
Lily Beach is a keyhole beach with cuts into sheer cliff on either side.
There was a gazebo with table and chairs
and a BBQ. There were large trees
providing shade for a family and their little children playing in the
sand. There was a large sandy bottomed
rock pool with a woman wearing a large hat sitting on a rock in the middle of
the pool reading a newspaper. Beyond the
pool there was a ring of rocks and big waves were crashing on. It was quite a scene with the crashing waves
and then just a few yards away the woman sitting in the pool reading her
scandal sheet and a little girl playing in the sand. The bright sun reflecting off the sand
bothered Bob’s eyes so he sat in the gazebo while Laurie and I walked the boardwalk
along the cliff edge between Lilly Beach and Ethel Beach. The walk provided a look at a variety of birds
including Brown Boobys and Red Footed Boobys nesting on the cliffs overlooking
the ocean.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Upon our return we drove off to Laurie’s next destination
which was Martin Point at the extreme west side of the island. To get there from Lily Beach which was the
most Eastern point of the island we had to drive north around the north end of
the airport to Murray Road then head southwest to North West Point Road which
turned into Dale’s Road which was a four wheel drive gravel road to the Martin
Point car park. From the car park we
walked to a viewing platform on the edge of the Seacliff which provided an
excellent view of the western coast.
There was a picnic table on site and we saw a number of Robber Crabs
along the walk. We were back to the car
by 16:00 and decided to call it a day and drove back to the Lodge.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We ate dinner at the Golden Bosun Tavern again. I had the grilled Wahoo fish topped with
lemon caper sauce which was outstanding.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Bob and I retired about 21:00.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Sunday, January 19,
2014:</b> Tour Christmas Island<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That morning I slept until the alarm woke us at 06:30. The weather was a little overcast with a very
pleasant temperature. We had breakfast
on the balcony of Cheerios, a banana, yogurt, and tea. The internet was down. At first I could connect to the modem but it
couldn’t connect to the internet but after breakfast my laptop could not even
see any wireless devices.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At 08:30 we all piled in the rental car and started out for
an all day tour mapped out by Laurie.
The first stop had to be the Supermarket in Poon Saan to buy items for
lunch. It was just opening when we
arrived and soon we were off on our adventure.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The first stop was Greta Beach which was reached by turning
off the North-South Baseline and down an unsealed road that turned to a steep
gravel road to the Greta Beach car park.
From the car park it was a three minute walk to a set of metal stairs
that lead down to a rock above the sandy beach.
From the rock it was a short drop to the sand. The beach was a collection point for
interesting flotsam and jetsam washed ashore.
It was amazing how many children’s flip flops were scattered
around. It is described as home to
thousands of tiny hermit crabs but we didn’t see any. We had a little trouble getting back up to
the steps.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Back in the car Linda told us she hurt her back when she
jumped from the rock down to the sand.
We then drove down more gravel road which at times had running
water. I was thinking I wouldn’t want to
drive back up in a rain storm. In
fifteen minutes of driving we reached the car park for Dolly Beach. Linda and Del decided to stay in the car as
the description stated that it was:<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>A
45 minute walk on a boardwalk to the beach and it was one of the prettiest and
most secluded beaches on the island and is deserted much of the time. It is a popular spot for camping among locals, as it has fresh water and a flat area behind the beach.<o:p></o:p></i><br />
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We started out and found that there were trees over the
boardwalk in places that were difficult to climb over or under and the
boardwalk would end and there were no clear markings to indicate where the
boardwalk would start again. Instead of
45 minutes it took us an hour to reach the beach. Just as it came in sight we entered a
clearing and Del arrived informing us that Linda’s pain had gotten worse and
asking us to return. Laurie and I
quickly climbed down to the beach straddling a fresh water stream and mud to
take a couple of pictures and started back.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Del had gone back and we soon caught up to Bob who was
laboring in the heat and the strain. I
had picked up a sturdy pole on the beach to steady myself straddling the stream
and I gave it to Bob and took his camera bag to lighten his load. He felt he needed to hurry back to get Linda
to a hospital but the strain was too great and we had to stop many times. It took us an hour to reach the car park and
just as we arrived we were approached by a couple who were on an outing. He wore a Police ball cap. She had a bottle of water and said to me
“your wife sent us to give you your water”.
When I told her that neither Bob or I were Linda’s husband we discovered
that he had set out again to get us to hurry and since we hadn’t seen him he
must have gotten lost in one of the areas where the boardwalk ends and the path
was not marked.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I was forming a plan of action with the couple where we would
leave a note on the windshield of their Range Rover and I would drive Linda to
the hospital, when Del arrived scratched and bloody from having been lost in
the rain-forest between boardwalks.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We thanked the couple for their help piled in our rental and
I drove like mad up the gravel road, through the wash and on to the
hospital. We had been gone over two
hours and Linda was really hurting. At
the hospital we got her a wheelchair and left her and Del to be treated and we
returned to our lodge.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At the lodge we ate our lunch, rested a bit and then got
ready to set out again. Del and Linda
arrived, (the nurse drove them back) to tell us that there was no doctor or
x-ray on duty but they had given Linda some pain pills.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Returning to Laurie’s plan we drove the length of the island
to South Point, on the North-South Baseline mine haulage road. South Point is the site of the major early
settlement at the peak of the phosphate mining days. Little evidence remains of this, except for
two Chinese temples and a derelict, overgrown railway station at the end of the
road. The map indicated that we could
drive on from the railway station but the road was very overgrown so we turned
around and got out to take pictures of the area. While we were walking around the station
which was just an open air platform, a couple of rusty rails and a concrete
building which appeared to at one time been associated with loading phosphate
into rail cars, a truck driven by a young lady drove up. She also turned around when she saw that the
road was overgrown. She stopped and told
us she was a pharmacist from Melbourne on temporary duty at the Internment Camp
Clinic and was spending the day exploring the island.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We left her and drove up to the South Point Chinese
Temple. It was the larger of the two
temples and had impressive views of the ocean.
Someone had recently been there since we saw fresh fruit offerings and
fresh bottles of water. Lisa had told us
that it was one of the main sites for the annual Chinese New Year’s ceremonies
which may include fire walking, which was pictured on the walls of the temple.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Melbourne pharmacist arrived to view the area as we were
leaving to go to the stop that Laurie had planned for us. She had been set back when we found we could
not continue on the road past the railway station so we reversed our drive back
to the north and turned off where the sign pointed to the Pink House.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Pink House was an Education and Research Station located
in the middle of the plateau rainforest.
It served as a base for scientific research and education programs. It was also a work site for Parks Australia
staff. The building was at one time
housing for railway workers during the period the South Point railway was in
operation.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When we got to the house we were faced with ‘No Entry’
signs. Reading the fine print in our
guides we found that: “If you wish to visit the Pink House please call in to
the Park Office at Drumsite to arrange a suitable time with Parks Australia
staff”. We took some pictures from the
road and drove on to the next stop on Laurie’s list which was LB4 Lookout.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The guide stated:<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>LB4
Lookout: A panoramic view over the north
coast towards Settlement from an on-site gazebo, surrounded by recent plantings
in the Rain-forest Rehabilitation Program. Abbott's Boobies may be sighted flying to and
from nearby nest sites.<o:p></o:p></i><br />
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What we saw was a shelter on top of a small hill next to the
turn off from the road and next to it a road into the rain-forest. We didn't think the shelter was the gazebo
described because the growth around the shelter prevented a view of anything
but close trees so we drove down the road expecting to come to a car park and
the gazebo at some elevation. Instead we
keep going down a steep grade into the rain-forest. Bob wanted me to turn back but there was no
place to turn until we reached a fork in the road. I took the trail to the left and soon my
sense of direction told me I was heading back up the road and sure enough we
soon were at the main road.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We had completed Laurie’s list (except for the road past the
railway station) and decided to return to the lodge.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That night there was a very colorful sunset. Unfortunately the North West Point of the
island blocks the view from our lodge of the sun setting on the ocean but as it
set below the North West Point there was an orange glow that reflecting off the
clouds gave the appearance the point was on fire. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Monday, January 20,
2014:</b> Tour Christmas Island<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Again I slept until the alarm woke me. We had the same breakfast as the morning
before and as had been the morning before the internet was down. The car was gone so I figured that Linda and
Del had returned to the hospital for x-ray and check by the doctor.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Lisa picked us up at 09:00.
She told us that the baby red crabs had started their crawl to the rain
forest from Flying Fish Cove so we rode there first. The babies were just little red specks not
much bigger than a fly but the tide line on the beach was marked with the
little red creatures for about 25 yards.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We took some close up pictures and then climbed the two foot
wall along the beach up to a grassy strip and back to Lisa’s car. Driving past the settlements we came upon an
arched structure that rose up over the road.
There were several on the island and I had wondered what they were when
we were driving around the island. Lisa
told us that they were bridges for the crabs to crawl over. They were more effective than the culverts
because the crabs navigated by light during the migration even though they
spent most of their life in dark burrows. We stopped to take pictures. Another unusual feature of the bridges is
that at first they were covered with a carpet and the crabs didn't like it so
they replaced the carpet with small stones glued to panels.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our next stop was at the guard shack to the Detention
Center. Lisa couldn't drive into the
area but we could take pictures from the road.
We rode on to the turn off to ‘The Dales Ramsar Site’ road and down a
gravel road through the rain forest to a car park.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We started to walk through the rain forest to the ‘Hugh’s
Dale Waterfall’ and ‘Anderson’s Dale’.(09:51).
Lisa pointed out the palm trees that were native to the island. The grow very tall and when they die their
tops fall off and the tall trucks remain.
Eventually robber crabs eat the inside of the dead trucks and the trucks
collapse. We saw many Planchonelin
trees.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After a fifteen minute walk we arrived at a small dammed
stream in Anderson’s Dale. I wasn’t sure
of the purpose of the small dam but it did create a large shallow wet area and
there were numerous blue crabs and their burrows around.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
From Dale we entered a boardwalk that wound its way up a
hill. It took Laurie and I about fifteen
minutes to make the climb to Hugh’s Dale Waterfall. It was unlike other waterfalls because there
was not a rush of water falling down; more like a slow steady stream over out
cropping’s of stone with moss on the stone into a pool ringed with moss. The water flows out of the pool in many
directions so there isn't a big stream but rather a number of small streams
trickling down the Dale.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We hung around the area for over twenty minutes viewing
things like a robber crab crawling up a tree up about 20 feet. I wondered what he was after way up there.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On the way down Bob had trouble and it took him and Lisa about
forty minutes to walk down. We then
drove to the turn off to the Blowholes.
The road was closed with a locked gate for the crab migration. We parked in a car park. It was noon and Lisa served us tea and
cookies before we started out to walk to the blow hole viewing platform. Bob stayed in the car. It was about a twenty
minute walk to the viewing platform.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Blowholes were a series of rock formations that hiss and
spurt water when it is forced through from the ocean swell. There were holes in two directions of the
viewing platform and I never was able to get a good picture of a blow. Most of the time the holes just had spray
coming out and even then it wasn’t very often.
I noticed that there was a t-shirt on one of the rocks and Lisa told me
that if I looked carefully I could see a cable around one of the
pinnacles. She said that the locals fish
off the cliff and the cable is there to secure them after one of them fell
several years ago. We only stayed ten
minutes and walked back.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our last stop was ‘Margaret Knoll’, a great viewing spot of
the east coast on a plateau beyond the airport.
It was a short walk and the views were spectacular. If you were a bird watcher there were Frigate
birds, tropic birds and pigeons gliding through the air around us.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After we returned to our room we ate lunch. Linda and Del were back. The doctor didn't think anything was broken
or she would have pain down her leg. He
thought she must have twisted her body when she landed and pulled a muscle or
ligament. He gave her some Vicodin and
she was sleeping.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We took the car and drove to the Supermarket to buy
breakfast and drinks for the next day.
When I returned I found the internet was working and I was able to talk
to Judy and read several emails about the extension to Myanmar and Laos to my
April trip.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Lisa had thought the baby crabs would be bigger and possible
be crawling up the beach in the late afternoon so at 17:00 I walked down to
Flying Fish Cove to see. They were
larger but had not started the crawl to the wall. I took some pictures and walked back stopping
to make a reservation for dinner at the Golden Buson Tavern.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When I got to my room Bob showed me a note that was slipped
under our door informing us that we had to vacate our room by 10:00. Laurie received the same note. She was very upset because she planned on
long walk in the morning and didn't expect to return until 11 and would need to
shower.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We checked with Del and his note read 15:00 so we told him
we would need to store our luggage in his room until Lisa picked us up at
14:30. He replied that it would be no
problem but when Laurie told him that she would have to take a shower he looked
alarmed. I hustled Laurie out to dinner
to try and calm her down.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Laurie Bob and I ate at 18:30. They were out of the great fish we had had
previously so we had the prawns in a cream sauce with rice and salad. They were delicious.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When I returned to my room the internet was still down. I wrote in my journal. Bob was exhausted and went to bed at
20:30. I still needed to wash my clothes
and I finally retired about 21:30.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Tuesday, January 21,
2014:</b> Fly Christmas Island to Perth, Australia<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We got up early to drive down to Flying Fish Cove to see if
the baby red crabs had started their crawl to the rain forest. Along the way we picked up Laurie who had
already started her morning walk. When I
got down on the beach I found that the crabs were not much bigger than the
night before but there were larger groupings of them. There were several people and children on the
beach. One little girl picked up a large
rock and under where it had been there was a large grouping of the baby crabs.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Laurie and I took a number of pictures and Laurie took some
with Bob’s camera. There were no steps
down to the beach from a grassy area that ran along a wall with a two to three
foot drop to the beach. Bob didn't want
to try to climb down and get back.
Yesterday he had a tough time climbing back up.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We returned to the Lodge to eat breakfast. Del got the keys to the car so he could drive
down to see the baby crabs. After
breakfast I packed and wrote in my journal.
The internet was down which was frustrating.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We waited to move out until the maid needed to clean our
room. She cleaned Laurie’s room first
and it was not until 10:45 that she knocked on our door. I had earlier carried my big bag downstairs
so all I had to do was pack up my laptop and move my backpack and
carry-on. I decided to not disturb Linda
and I set up my laptop at the pool where there was a power outlet and had the
landlady store my lunch in her refrigerator.
I still couldn't get an internet connection. The land lady was there and told me the
internet had been down. As I was writing
in my journal, poolside I saw that the men in the smaller rooms below us were
moving into our rooms. So the timing of
our vacating our rooms was more of a function of the maid service than the need
for someone to occupy the rooms. The guy
taking over our room had to leave work to make the move.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Laurie returned a little after 11 and I told her that Del
would let her take a shower. Bob was in
Del’s room but I stayed at the pool side plugged in until noon when I retrieved
my lunch and ate it with the gang in Del’s room.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After lunch I returned to the poolside to continue updating
my journal until Lisa arrived to drive us to the airport. At the airport we were surprised that Virgin Australia
would not check our luggage past Perth.
They told us we would land at the International Terminal and retrieve
our luggage and process through customs then take a bus for a 20 minute ride to
the Domestic Terminal where we had to check-in, get our boarding pass and check
our bag. I was surprised and irritated
that first that I couldn't check the bag all the way to Port Vila, second that
since I couldn't do that then at least I should be able to check the bag at a
Virgin Australia counter at the International Terminal and have them transport
it to my plane going to Brisbane and third that they didn't arrange for transit
passengers to get from the International to the Domestic Terminal. All those operations are performed at other
countries and other airports were the two terminals are a distance apart.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our flight took off right on schedule and arrived at the
gate in Perth five minutes early at 21:05.
We had fifty five minutes to check in at the Domestic terminal at
22:00. At the baggage carousel it seemed
to take forever for the baggage to arrive.
The flight crew was standing there and told me if we can get on a bus
right away we should be able to make it but the bus takes 20 minutes. If we missed the bus we would have to walk a
block to the cab stand and take a cab which will take the same time to get to
the other terminal on the opposite side of the runway.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Finally our bags came out and I ran pushing a trolley as
fast as I could to the exit only to be told when we handed our customs form to
the agent that we had to get in a long line to have our bags x-rayed since we
had arrived from Christmas Island. I
protested loudly telling the Agent we had less than thirty minutes to check in
for our connecting flight. She was not
sympathetic but another agent at an x-ray machine that was not being used
lifted the line strap and motioned for me to wheel the trolley to her machine
where she x-rayed our bags and sent us on our way. Since we had arrived at the same terminal
from Auckland ten days before I remembered where the shuttle bus was parked and
ran to it with Bob trying to keep up. I
wheeled the trolley in front of the bus so it couldn't leave without us and off
load our bags, loaded them on the bus and told the driver we had until on the
hour to make our connection. I then got
out and moved the trolley up on the sidewalk and got on the bus. A driver going off duty told us we should get
there in time and which door to enter.
The bus left and made just one stop but it still took twenty agonizing
minutes to arrive at the Domestic Terminal.
We got off several doors from the Virgin Australia check in door. There was a fence between the sidewalk we
exited the bus to and the roadway next to the terminal I wheeled my bag as fast
as I could, looking for an opening to cross the road and enter the
terminal. When I got to an opening it
was in front of the door to Virgin Australia.
I ran in and seeing a line at Economy check I ran to the VIP check in
and showed her my passport and reservation.
It was 21:57! We had made it by
three minutes. One agent checked in Bob
and the other checked in me. As we were
being checked in the luggage belt in back of the counter jammed and as I left
to go through security. My agent was
pulling my bag back and telling me not to worry she would take it to another
baggage drop point.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At security my knee set off the alarm. They made me go back and take off my shoes,
watch, belt, and they argued with me when I told them my cloth belt was sewed
in and couldn't be removed. After I set
off the alarm again they finally got the wand out and went over me with a find
tooth comb. They then swabbed my jacket,
backpack, carry on and my body each time checking the swab in the explosive
residue detection machine. I could hear
my name being paged to board my plane. I
pointed that out to the security agent but he continued to take his own sweet
time going through his checks.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Finally he passed me and I put on my shoes, threw my belt
over my shoulder, gathered my belongings and ran to the gate. I was perspiring and panting when I boarded
the plane and the flight attendant asked me if I was all right. I told him I was but their airlines system
wasn't and slowly loaded my bag in the overhead, got dressed and took my
seat. The attendants closed the door and
we took off twenty minutes after the scheduled departure time. It was a ‘red eye’ flight scheduled to land
in Brisbane at 05:00. I was exhausted
and didn't have any trouble taking a nap.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
My adventures in the Indian Ocean where over, and I liked
what I saw and experienced on the islands and in Australia and want to return
someday but I don’t like their airline and airport setup. They really left a bad taste in my mouth and soured
my experience.<o:p></o:p></div>
Edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03034021752003929779noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2230692068076603436.post-33703931483099423372014-05-01T13:44:00.000-07:002019-05-10T13:49:44.362-07:00Ed Reynolds - More than a World Traveler - May 2014<br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; tab-stops: center 3.75in right 534.0pt;">
<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiG816Zjf2j__-e440zOp4CrZZRexvuI4ol6YHRaRT9dEHrvLdyAtvvtmsLd43k9-_wfqzQlQu7Kn3RYgKscx5nYHeb_lwOt_mkR4DENjQvbesqN-vilvDmcJwpABlYOYeowRq7KwsSuEp/s1600/2019-05-10_13-39-37.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="369" data-original-width="465" height="253" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiG816Zjf2j__-e440zOp4CrZZRexvuI4ol6YHRaRT9dEHrvLdyAtvvtmsLd43k9-_wfqzQlQu7Kn3RYgKscx5nYHeb_lwOt_mkR4DENjQvbesqN-vilvDmcJwpABlYOYeowRq7KwsSuEp/s320/2019-05-10_13-39-37.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<h1 align="center" style="text-align: center;">
<u>Member Profile</u></h1>
<div align="center" class="Default" style="text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; line-height: 102%;">Ed Reynolds - More than
a World Traveler<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div align="center" class="WingNews1" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Ray Rosenbaum, reporter<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="WingNews1" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
We all know that Ed Reynolds is
a world traveler, having visited 193 countries that are members of the United
Nations, plus 10 or so “want-to-be” countries.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>However, did you know that he retired from the U.S. Air Force after
serving at the Pentagon for six years and was selected to full colonel.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="WingNews1" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
More on his military career
later.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He began his global travels at
the tender age of 12, journeying from Connecticut across Canada, down to Baja
and returning via the Southern states with his stepfather, who had lots of
vacation time accrued during WW II as the government acceptance inspector of
Corsairs built in Connecticut.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="WingNews1" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
Reynolds relates sorrowfully, that he went through World War II without his parents, who had divorced.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ed wound up in a Christian Science boys,
camp, then went K through 12 in Weston Connecticut.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He spent his summers in Texas and later went
to Southern Methodist University (SMU) in Dallas.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="WingNews1" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
Born in 1935 in New York City,
he became eligible for the draft and enlisted in the USAF Aviation Cadet
program in 1957.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was commissioned as
a Second Lieutenant and awarded navigator wings in 1958 at Harlingen AFB, Texas
and assigned to SAC KC-97’s at Dow AFB, Bangor, Maine. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="WingNews1" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
At the end of his enlistment,
he planned on leaving active duty to fly for Seaboard World Airlines, but
President Kennedy froze everyone on active duty for the Berlin Wall crisis and
he couldn't get out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He then was assigned
to Kindley AFB, Bermuda.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>During the
Cuban Missile Crisis, he flew reconnaissance missions in a KC-97 to track
Soviet ships and count the missiles on their decks.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="WingNews1" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
In the late 1960’s he was
assigned to the Joint Strategic Targeting Planning Staff (JSTPS) and was in
charge of assigning all the free world’s strategic missiles.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="WingNews1" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
Like Art Sherman, he was classified
as an Intelligence Officer and Ed served as the Senior Advisor to the Chief of
Vietnamese Air Force Intelligence at Tan Sot Nhut AB, 1971-72.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After his Vietnam tour, he completed an MA at
the University of Nebraska and was assigned to the Pentagon in charge of the
USAF Aircraft Inventory.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was
responsible for the implementation of word processing and computer workstation
terminals throughout the Pentagon Air Staff.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="WingNews1" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
After selection to full colonel
in 1979, he retired as a Lt. Colonel. to take a job at United Airlines'
computer department in San Francisco.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="WingNews1" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
He continued his association
with the USAF, serving as president of the Tennessee Ernie Ford chapter of the
Air Force Assn. and then served as president of the Jimmy Doolittle Chapter in
Los Angeles.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Pretty impressive,
huh?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We have left out most of his
meritorious career since it would fill a book, which it has.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="WingNews1" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
But the rest of his life is even
more interesting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Reynolds has a joyous
air about him, ever smiling and willing to share his adventures with
everyone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He's been married to Judy for
53 years, has two daughters, Wendy and Robin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>His father was an artist and young Ed posed for many Dutch Boy paintings
in wooden shoes.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAeAsqLsO15hIq5vt7vl71-q3u16ucbfHRbjhcWojLXFNMaOfDS_qj1DDF-HMACyI9RX9Be9Noz0odWsqkIgqSoFKH81DqoFOiucCCS5pAXlJyz6AVq92yzjcanii0WGKGOmHfYebGzGKu/s1600/2019-05-10_13-42-14.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="457" data-original-width="285" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAeAsqLsO15hIq5vt7vl71-q3u16ucbfHRbjhcWojLXFNMaOfDS_qj1DDF-HMACyI9RX9Be9Noz0odWsqkIgqSoFKH81DqoFOiucCCS5pAXlJyz6AVq92yzjcanii0WGKGOmHfYebGzGKu/s320/2019-05-10_13-42-14.jpg" width="199" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="WingNews1" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
Always a lucky guy, he won a
1953 MG in a contest for “Why I like my Paper Mate Pen” in 25 words or
less.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I bought a similar car in the 50s
but dumped it later, but Ed was smarter and still has it today and shows it off
at car shows. He also drives a Mazda Miata.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="WingNews1" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
He found out in his ’30s that he
has dyslexia, so he doesn't read much, instead listens to books on tape.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="WingNews1" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
That did not stop him from
becoming an athlete, playing high school football as a 150 lb. lineman and
later served as manager of the SMU football team.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ed has run several marathons, but wore his
knee out and had to quit running and replace it<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="WingNews1" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
He stopped traveling in
November and now works out three times a week, having lost over 20 pounds.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="WingNews1" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
Reynolds' latest adventure is
as the publisher of this newsletter for Wings Over Wendy's, having taken over for
Neil Baliber, who served meritoriously.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="WingNews1" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
As he has done with everything
else in his life, Ed is bound to succeed.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />Edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03034021752003929779noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2230692068076603436.post-78599919509068023682014-03-06T12:57:00.000-08:002019-05-10T13:49:01.591-07:00Travelin’ man has visited nearly every country in the world - March 2014<br />
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<span class="dfm-title" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Travelin’ man has visited nearly every country in the world</span></h1>
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<img alt="" class="size-article_feature lazyautosizes lazyloaded" data-sizes="auto" data-src="https://www.dailynews.com/wp-content/uploads/migration/2014/201403/NEWS_140309685_AR_0_ZOBNQBIJLEJY.jpg?w=535" data-srcset="https://www.dailynews.com/wp-content/uploads/migration/2014/201403/NEWS_140309685_AR_0_ZOBNQBIJLEJY.jpg?w=535 620w,https://www.dailynews.com/wp-content/uploads/migration/2014/201403/NEWS_140309685_AR_0_ZOBNQBIJLEJY.jpg?w=673 780w,https://www.dailynews.com/wp-content/uploads/migration/2014/201403/NEWS_140309685_AR_0_ZOBNQBIJLEJY.jpg?w=879 1020w,https://www.dailynews.com/wp-content/uploads/migration/2014/201403/NEWS_140309685_AR_0_ZOBNQBIJLEJY.jpg?w=810 940w" sizes="955px" src="https://www.dailynews.com/wp-content/uploads/migration/2014/201403/NEWS_140309685_AR_0_ZOBNQBIJLEJY.jpg?w=535" srcset="https://www.dailynews.com/wp-content/uploads/migration/2014/201403/NEWS_140309685_AR_0_ZOBNQBIJLEJY.jpg?w=535 620w,https://www.dailynews.com/wp-content/uploads/migration/2014/201403/NEWS_140309685_AR_0_ZOBNQBIJLEJY.jpg?w=673 780w,https://www.dailynews.com/wp-content/uploads/migration/2014/201403/NEWS_140309685_AR_0_ZOBNQBIJLEJY.jpg?w=879 1020w,https://www.dailynews.com/wp-content/uploads/migration/2014/201403/NEWS_140309685_AR_0_ZOBNQBIJLEJY.jpg?w=810 940w" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; display: block; font: inherit; height: auto; left: 0px; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 954.875px;" title="" /></div>
<figcaption style="border-bottom-color: rgb(221, 216, 213); border-bottom-style: solid; border-image: initial; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: initial; border-width: 0px 0px 3px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #5d5b5a; font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.8125em; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.3; margin: 0px 0px 1.0625em; padding: 1.07143em 0px 0.71429em; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;">Ed Reynolds is on a quest to travel to all 193 countries in the United Nations. He’s already been to 187, and he hopes to have visited the rest by the summer. Reynolds was photographed at his Woodland Hills home on March 5, 2014 in front of his world map with pins through locations he has visited. (Photo by David Crane/Los Angeles Daily News)</figcaption></figure><br />
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By <a class=" author-name" href="https://www.dailynews.com/author/dennis-mccarthy/" rel="author" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: 1.7; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; text-transform: uppercase; vertical-align: baseline;" title="Posts by Dennis McCarthy">DENNIS MCCARTHY</a> |</div>
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PUBLISHED: <time datetime="2014-03-06 12:13:29" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">March 6, 2014 at 8:13 pm</time> | UPDATED: <time class="updated" datetime="2017-08-28 00:50:41" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">August 28, 2017 at 7:50 am</time></div>
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In a few months, after the travelin’ man gets back from Samoa and Kiribati — a small, tropical island nation in the Pacific Ocean — he’ll stick the final two pins in his map of the world, and join a very exclusive club.</div>
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Ed Reynolds will be on a short list of people who have visited every member state in the United Nations — all 193 of them.</div>
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From tiny, remote African villages with no running water, but a vote on world affairs to some of the most dangerous places on the globe — Iraq, Iran, and Libya.</div>
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Ed figures if you’re going to travel halfway around the world to see how people live, you should get in the dirt with them to really know.</div>
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“Some of the friendliest people I’ve ever met were in the deserts of Iran,” he says. “It was only when you got in the capital (Tehran) that you started looking over your shoulder.”</div>
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Ed’s seen 82 percent of the world, by his own calculation — 290 foreign destinations in all — some of them during his 22-year career as a U.S. Air Force intelligence officer in Vietnam and later, working in the Pentagon.</div>
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Most of them, though, as a tourist after he turned 65 in 2001 until now, age 78. He’ll blow by 2 million flight miles on United Airlines this year, and has probably spent a full year or more of his life waiting for connecting flights.</div>
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“I go through suitcases like crazy,” Ed says. “Some of them have lifetime guarantees, but I’m always taking them back damaged from being thrown around so much by luggage handlers. The zippers usually go first.”</div>
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This January, while visiting the Republic of Vanuatu in the New Hebrides Islands, and a member of the U.N. General Assembly (what, you didn’t know that?) — Ed finally spent the last of the $400,000 he set up in a travel account from the sale of his late mother’s house in Lompoc at a hot time in the housing market in 2006.</div>
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Yeah, it’s a lot of money, but she would have understood. It was his mother and father who gave him the travel bug. And, boy, has he had a great time spreading that dough around the world, the travelin’ man says.</div>
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“I’m driving my Wells Fargo financial adviser nuts because I’m dipping into my investments now to travel,” says Ed, a member of the Most Traveled People club, and the Travelers’ Century Club in Santa Monica, where you don’t get in until you’ve visited at least 100 different geographical places in the world.</div>
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“I tell people you’re going to need $2 million (to travel almost constantly) and a very understanding spouse, unless you’re taking them along,” says Klaus Billep chairman of Travelers’ Century, a social club that started in 1954.</div>
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“We’ve got members in Long Beach keeping track of the travels of members in the South Bay, and other local communities,” Billep says. “It’s a form of competition, and a way to meet new friends and people who love to constantly travel.”</div>
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The downside? There are a fair amount of divorces along the way if one spouse stays home too much.</div>
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Judy Reynolds has been married to Ed for 50 years, and they’re looking forward to their 51st this May and many more to come after that. She understands her husband’s passion for travel, it’s in his genes. She has the same passion for obedience training Shetland Sheepdogs.</div>
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“We’ve been to Asia and China together, but I go mostly on the cruises with him now,” says the retired high school English teacher. “Leaving my dogs in the kennel all the time was making me sick.”</div>
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Ed’s leaving April 1 for Myanmar and Bangladesh, a couple of hot spots in the world, but he’s not worried.</div>
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“I’ve never felt threatened anywhere,” says the Woodland Hills resident. “You just have to get a good guide and stay out of trouble. I was over in Libya solo on a work visa — the only way I could get in — but it was revoked after five days and I had to get out.</div>
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“I was on a ship that broke down in the Antarctica for eight days before we were rescued, and I was in the first group of Americans to tour Iraq in 2009. In Chad, they wouldn’t let us out of the city to visit the countryside.</div>
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“I’m not doing this just to see the world, but to meet people in different countries and understand them better,” Ed says. “I’ve found some of the friendliest people in the world live in some of the most dangerous places. They’re fearful of terrorists, like we all are.”</div>
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He rattles off some of his favorite places — Angkor Wat in Cambodia; the small Ivory Coast town of Yanoussoukro, where a full size replica of St. Peter’s Basilica has been built in the middle of nowhere; and Socotra Island off the coast of Yemen, an island of Doctor Seuss umbrella trees.</div>
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But his favorite place in the world to visit as a tourist?</div>
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“San Francisco,” the travelin’ man says.</div>
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<em style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Dennis McCarthy’s column runs on Friday. He can be reached at dmccarthynews@gmail.com.</em></div>
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Edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03034021752003929779noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2230692068076603436.post-43284800433118809002014-03-05T15:06:00.000-08:002014-03-05T15:06:05.731-08:00Galapagos of the Southern Ocean Expedition - January 2014
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b><span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Saturday, December 28, 2013:</span></b><span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"> </span>Overview
of the Expedition</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">After traveling for a year with
Universal Travel Systems to tour the Caucasus and finish visiting all the UN
countries in Africa; and Bestway Safari and Tours, to tour the Balkans; I
rejoined traveling with Advantage Travel and Tours.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On a tour arranged by Cathy and Bob Parda, I
joined additional members of the Advantage Travel and Tours “family”; of Mike
Bidwell, Marion Speno, Laurie Campbell and Bob Ihsen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In addition Del and Linda McCuen and Bob
Ippolito joined the group.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We started
the tour with a </span>voyage to the “Galapagos of the Southern Ocean”, for 13
days, starting on 30 December 2013 from Invercargill on the very southern tip
of New Zealand and returned to the same port on 11 January 2014 on <span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">the Spirit of Enderby.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Heritage Expeditions describes the expedition
as follows:</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">This is without doubt one of the most
inspirational and informative journeys or expeditions into the Southern Ocean
ecosystem that one can make. Long recognized for their rich biodiversity, the Sub
Antarctic Islands lying to the south of New Zealand are UNESCO World Heritage
sites. This places them in a select group of only 180 natural sites that have
been designated as ‘the most important and significant natural habitats' on the
planet. They are also afforded the highest conservation status and protection by
the Australian and New Zealand governments and access to these islands is by
permit only. On this expedition we offer you the unique chance to explore,
photograph and understand these wonderful places in the company of some of the
most knowledgeable and passionate guides.</span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">As a young biologist, Heritage
Expeditions founder Rodney Russ first visited these islands in 1972 with the
New Zealand Wildlife Service. He organized New Zealand's first commercial
expedition there in 1989, and 24 years and over 100 expeditions later, he is
still as passionate about the islands as he was in 1972. It was only natural
that his family should travel with him, what wasn't predictable was that they
would join him in the business and be as passionate about the conservation of this
region as he is. As the original concessionaire we enjoy good relationships
with the conservation departments and some of the access permits we hold are
unique to these expeditions.</span></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The name we have given to this voyage
'Galapagos of the Southern Ocean' reflects the astounding natural biodiversity
and the importance of these islands as a wildlife refuge. (The book Galapagos
of the Antarctic written by Rodney Russ and Aleks Terauds and published by
Heritage Expeditions describes all of these islands in great detail.) The
islands all lie in the cool temperate zone with a unique climate and are home
to a vast array of wildlife including albatross, penguins, petrels, prions,
shearwaters and marine mammals like sea lions, fur seals and elephant seals.
The flora is equally fascinating; the majority of it being like the birds and
endemic to these islands.</span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">This expedition includes four of the Sub
Antarctic Islands, The Snares, Auckland's, Macquarie and Campbell. Each one is
different and each one is unique, just like this expedition.</span></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The ship “Spirit of Enderby” is described as follows:</span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The
Spirit of Enderby is a fully ice-strengthened expedition vessel, built in 1984
for polar and oceanographic research and is perfect for Expedition Travel.</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">She
carries just 50 passengers and was refurbished in March 2013 to provide
comfortable accommodation in twin share cabins approximately half of which have
private facilities. All cabins have outside windows or portholes and ample
storage space.</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">On
board there is a combined bar/library lounge area and a dedicated lecture room.
The cuisine is excellent and is prepared by top NZ and Australian chefs.</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The
real focus and emphasis of every expedition is getting you ashore as often as
possible for as long as possible with maximum safety and comfort. Our
Expeditions are accompanied by some of the most experienced naturalists and
guides, who have devoted a lifetime to field research in the areas that we
visit. The ship is crewed by a very enthusiastic and most experienced Russian
Captain and crew.</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The
name Spirit of Enderby honors the work and the vision of the Enderby Brothers
of London. The Enderby Captains were at the forefront of Antarctic exploration
for almost 40 years in the early 1800s. It also celebrates Enderby Island,
arguably the greatest Sub Antarctic Island in the world.</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Technical
description:<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">•Classification: Russian register KM ice class</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">•Year built: 1984</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">•Accommodation:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>50 berths
expedition</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">•Shipyard: Finland</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">•Main engines: power 2x1560 bhp (2x 1147 Kw) </span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">•Register: Russia</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">•Maximum speed: 12 knots (2 engines)</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">•Cruising speed: 10 knots(one engine)</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">•Bunker capacity: 320 tons</span></i></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Cabin details:</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">•Heritage
Suite: Has a large lounge area, a separate bedroom with double bed, a single
bed in the lounge, writing desk, wardrobe, drawers. There is a private bathroom
with shower, toilet and washbasin. There are large forward and side facing
windows to allow great views.</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">•Mini
Suites: Have a separate bedroom with a double bed and a single bed or a sofa in
the lounge, wardrobe, drawers, a desk and a private bathroom with shower,
toilet and washbasin. The Mini Suites have windows.</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">•Superior
Plus cabins: Have two lower berths, wardrobe, drawers, desk, a private bathroom
with shower, toilet and washbasin. These cabins have windows.</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">•Superior
cabins: Have bunks (an upper and lower berth), wardrobe, drawers, a desk, a
private bathroom with shower, toilet and washbasin. These cabins have windows.</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">•Main
deck cabins: Have two lower berths, wardrobe, drawers, a desk, washbasin and
porthole. The nearby showers and toilets are shared with other Main deck
cabins.</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">•Main
deck triple: Has one bunk (one upper and one lower) and one lower berth,
wardrobe, drawers, a desk and wash basin. The nearby showers and toilets are
shared with other Main deck cabins.</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I was assigned cabin 312.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The Spirit of Enderby was built in Finland as a Russian
oceanographic survey ship and is still registered in Vladivostok under her
original name of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Professor Khromov</i></b> and has a mostly Russian crew. The ship is
fully ice strengthened for use in Arctic and Antarctic waters. Renamed <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Spirit
of Enderby</i></b> by Heritage expeditions, who lease the ship, it was fully
refurbished in 2009 and has accommodation for up to 50 passengers in a mixture
of suites and cabins, many with private facilities. There is an open bridge and
deck policy and public areas including a dining room, lecture theatre, bar,
lounge and library, small hospital and sauna.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The following was the scheduled route:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b><span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Saturday, December 28, 2013:</span></b><span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">
B</span>egin travel</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">On Friday I returned from a week in Sacramento celebrating Christmas
with my oldest daughter, Wendy and 9 year old Christine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was Christine’s first Christmas not
believing in Santa Claus so the presents were not as surprising as on the last
few Christmases with her.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Saturday was hectic with last minute shopping and packing
for the trip.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I decided to purchase some
high top rubber boots for the wading ashore from the zodiacs on landings
without docks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While I was at it I also
purchased a pair of hiking shoes for the walks across marshy soil.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The purchase of the two items caused me to
change suitcases because the length of the boots would not fit in the suitcase
I packed my warm weather gear in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My
plan was to ship that case back to the US at the end of the cruise and pack the
clothes and items I need on the warmer island tours in my regular bag.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The last minute rearranging of bags and re-reading the
details of the trip caused me to not be fully ready for dinner before my car
service was scheduled to pick me up at 18:00.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I finished dinner at 17:45 and had my checked bags packed and available
to load at 18:00 but I still needed to dress and pack my carry-on bag.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because I couldn’t have anything in my
pockets for the TSA check I dumped all the things I normally carry in my pockets
in a day pack.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">When I got in the car to leave I ran my check list and
insured I had my passport, airline tickets, cell phone and wallet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Opps!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I couldn’t find my wallet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I ran
back in the house and checked all around the bed where I had swept everything
loose into my day pack.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It wasn’t there
so I returned to the car and brought my day pack back in the house in the light
and dumped everything on the dining room table.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It was there stuck to the hand wipes packet.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">As I returned to get in the car the car service called to
inform me that they were charging me a penalty of $10 for holding the driver
over fifteen minutes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since he was the
one that called to inform the service, he just blew his tip which is why I was
looking for the wallet in the first place to get out his tip.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">There was a couple of wreaks on the highway and the driver
took a longer route to the airport than I and other drivers take so that the
normal 45 minute drive took an hour.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Air New Zealand has its own terminal entrance at LAX and
right inside the door was the Star Alliance Gold desk so even though I was
manipulating three wheeled bags I had a short distance to the check in
desk.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No one was in line so the process
was quick.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The TSA line was a little
longer but they had a full body scanner working so that check also was rather
quick.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Air New Zealand’s Star Alliance lounge was upstairs in the
terminal next to the Air Canada lounge that I had used so many times in the
past when I worked for SHL Systemhouse in Canada.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a big lounge with a full meal service.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I checked email, called Wendy and Judy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The lounge patrons have a dedicated gate and
when time came for the flight to be boarded we were lead to the dedicated gate
and I was one of the first to reach my seat in the middle section of the
aircraft.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I was assigned a middle aisle on the right side of the
aircraft.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the left side of my row of
four seats a couple from the lounge settled in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We remarked that we hoped the seat next to me would remain open.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just as the closed the door a heavy set young
man came down the aisle and sat in that vacant seat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was not looking forward to a 13 hour
cramped flight when they closed the door and I saw that the seat in front of me
was vacant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I and along with the man on
his left encouraged the young man to move up to the vacant seat leaving the
seat next to me vacant again and a sigh of relieve from the two of us.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b><span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Sunday, December 29, 2013: </span></b>En route crossing the
International Date Line</span><b><span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It was an uneventful flight and since the time zones were
not that different (just the days), almost everyone slept on the flight.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Monday, December 30,
2013: </b>Arrive Invercargill, NZ via Auckland and Christchurch, NZ</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We landed in Auckland rested on Monday at 06:45 (09:45
California time).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we exited the
aircraft my side of the plane was slow to exit and since my colleague, Bob
Ihsen was on the left side and that line moved faster than my line I assumed
that Bob had exited the aircraft.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was
a long walk to the Immigration Control area and I walked briskly to try to
catch Bob.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I didn’t see him and at
Immigration Control they had a special line for Global Entry so I was able to
process rather quickly.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">At the baggage claim area I still had not seen Bob.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was a little confusion at the
carousels.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The signage all said our
flight’s bags were to be delivered on carousel number 4.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After twenty minutes from landing very few
bags had arrived.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The planes’ flight
attendants arrived and were anointed that their bags were not on the
carousel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of them told the group
that she was going to find out why there was a delay.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She returned in just a few minutes to report
that the bags from our flight were on another carousel.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I retrieved my bags and proceeded to take a fifteen minute
walk to the domestic terminal where I dropped my bags for the next flights.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I five hours before my flight to Christchurch
so I went to the Star Alliance lounge and setup my laptop and charged my smart
phone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was able to call Judy using
Vonage.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Bob and Cathy Parda arrived with Bob Ihsen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bob told me that he was delayed leaving the
plane because people right in front of him took a long time retrieving their
bags from the overhead.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The resulted in
the people on the left side in front of the bottle neck exited ahead of me
leaving the impression that all the people on the left had exited.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bob and` Cathy had flown in a day earlier and
stayed at an Auckland hotel near the airport.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>When they checked in and were on their way to the lounge they saw Bob
and invited him as their guest to wait in the lounge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By the time they arrived I had finished
processing my emails and written in my journal and packed away my laptop.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Our flight to Christchurch left on time and took only an
hour.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had an hour and one half for
the flight to Invercargill which we spent in the Air New Zealand lounge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The last leg was on an ATR and we walked to
the plane.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It also was a one hour
flight.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">At Invercargill we took a van to the hotel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the hotel I was assigned to a room with
the George Gornacz, the gentleman that would be my roommate on the ship. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>George was a semi-retired Radiologist from
Australia and was tacking this trip for the third time.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The hotel had Wi-Fi for a fee.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I purchased a block of time and called Judy
on Vonage to let her know I had safely arrived with my entire luggage.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Heritage Expeditions hosted a buffet dinner in the hotel restaurant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was nice to see Laurie and Marion again
and to meet Bob <span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Ippolito.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Del and Linda McCuen whom I met at a
Traveler’s Century Club were also there.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We were introduced by Nathan Russ, son of Rodney Russ, the
founder of Heritage Expeditions and the Expedition Leader for our cruise, to
several of expedition’s staff:</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Agnes Breniere, the Cruise Director, from France</span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Samuel Blanc, Lecturer, from France</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Nathan then gave a talk on the expedition and the plan for
the next day.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">After diner I retired to my room for the night.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Tuesday, December 31,
2013:</b> Cruise on the Spirit of Enderby</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The plan for Tuesday was to have a buffet breakfast and then
have our luggage in the lobby by 09:00 to be checked, tagged with our cabin
number (George and I were assigned cabin 321), and the loaded in a truck to the
ship.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">After all the luggage was processed, Samuel led us to the
Southland Museum and Art Gallery.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There
we were given a tour by the Museum Curator.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He was very proud of the museum’s Tuatara lizard, and spent about twenty
minutes talking about the lizards and Henry, who had been a very aggressive
Tuatara until a cancerous tumor was discovered and removed in 2002.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is believed that the species live over 100
years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I got a little bored with his
talk and left the group with Bob Ihsen and strolled around the gardens in back
of the museum.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I returned when the guide
lead the group to the second floor where there were displays about the history
of the islands we would visit on the cruise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The Southern Ocean had many ship wrecks and there were displays about
the most notable ones.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">In one room there was a display of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The World’s Fastest Indian</i> and the Bonneville, Salt Flats.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I remembered that in the 2005 movie the main
character played by Anthony Hopkins was from New Zealand by I didn’t remember
that he was from Invercargill.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">When I felt that I had seen all I wanted in the museum, I
left to walk back to the hotel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Along
the way I walked through a mall that had the actual <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The World’s Fastest Indian</i> motorcycle on display and information
about the movie.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">As I left the mall I stopped in a sporting goods store and
bought a water proof day pack for 22.99 NZ dollars.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Lunch was served for the passengers in the hotel and then we
boarded a bus for the transfer to the Port of Otago where we boarded the Spirit
of Enderby.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I sat in the back row of the
bus and the ship’s doctor, John Moodie sat next to me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had a great conversation about my
experience in New Zealand in the 1980’s and about his role as a non-speaking
extra “Hobbitt” in the first Hobbitt movie.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Despite long hours on the set in the film he can see himself in the
background of a just a few scenes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
lives about 15 miles from the site where the Hobbitt village was constructed
for the movie and is now a tourist attraction.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I told him that I had seen the latest film which he was not in because
the village was not part of the movie.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This trip was his fourth expedition.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Having sat on the last row of the bus I was the last to
board the ship.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>George was waiting in
the cabin to determine which bunk I would take to accommodate my CPAP
machine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was just one electrical
out let in the room and that was at the right side of the desk.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I decided it would be best if I took the bunk
along that wall so as not to string the extension cord across the cabin but
rather along the wall and under the mattress to the bunk’s pillow where I would
have the machine wedged between the mattress and the wall.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That worked out very well and my power strip
would then reside on the desk where I could plug in my laptop and camera
battery charger.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The cabin had plenty of
storage drawers and a large area under the bed to store my luggage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am glad I brought some extra hangers
because there was a shortage in the closet.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We had a sink with a small medicine cabinet but we had to
share three toilets, a shower and two toilet shower combinations across the
hall with the others on our deck.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">As we departed Port Bluff Rodney Russ called us to the
Lecturer Room on the 2<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">nd</span></sup> deck for an “Introduction to the Auckland
Islands” briefing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He then told us of
his passion of wild life and his book which he titled <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Galapagos of the Southern Ocean.</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">He then introduced the staff:</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Agnes Breniere, who we had met at the hotel</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Samuel Blanc, who we met at the hotel</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Marcus Richards, Lecturer, from New Zealand</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Katya Ovsyanikova, Lecturer from Russia</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Bruce Thomason, Chef</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Michael Harris, Chef</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">John Moodie, Medical Advisor</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Rodney then went into more detail on the expedition itinerary
than his son had provided in the hotel.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">At 16:00 we left the port and at 17:00 the pilot departed
the ship.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bob and Cathy invited the
Advantage Travel group to their cabin at 18:30 where we celebrated Robert
Ippolito’s birthday and New Year’s Eve.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Cathy had bought a number balloons, horns and goofy masks for the
festive occasion.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I learned that Robert Ippolito was a retired USAF Chaplin
and was stationed at many of the same bases I was stationed at but ten years after
me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rodney Russ and two ladies from the
next cabin (Rosemary Lovell and Helen Gascoine) heard our revelry and joined
the party.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had them take photos of
the group to send to the Travelers’ Century Club (TCC) newsletter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Robert volunteered to write an article on the
expedition for TCC.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We had a delicious diner followed by Robert’s birthday cake.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The ship was rocking and rolling as it passed south through
the “roaring 40s” which is known for rough weather.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>None of us stayed up to mid-night to welcome
the New Year.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Wednesday, January
01, 2014</b>: Snares Islands to Enderby Island</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I did not sleep soundly through the night as I discovered
that we hadn’t secured everything in the room and I was wakened several times
by items falling off the desk, doors swinging open and shut and items sliding
across the cabin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The bunks in our cabin
were situated facing starboard so the roll of the ship affected us more than
the pitch.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We set anchor at North East Island, the largest of The
Snares Islands. The island is claimed by some to be home to more nesting
seabirds than all of the British Isles together.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The activity for the day was Zodiac cruising along the
rugged coastline. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Each passenger was
assigned a number and the first thirty were scheduled to take the first Zodiac
cruise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My number was 42 so I had to
wait an hour for the Zodiacs to return.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I dresses warmly and wore my gumboots although there was no scheduled
landing.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">There were three Zodiacs in operation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mine was driven by Katya.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She drove us close to a rocky area populated
with Snares Crested Penguins.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the way
we passed by a number of Snares Crested Penguins swimming.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some came very close to the Zodiac.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we reached the rocky area we loitered
there for a while taking photos and just watching the penguins waddling around
the rocky area.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the top of the rocky
area we saw a New Zealand Fur Seal in a majestic pose like he was the king of
the domain.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We then moved over to another colony of Snares Crested
Penguins perched on a rocky area below the trees.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Snares Crested Penguins breed and nest among
the trees and there was a steady stream of Snares Crested Penguins waddling in
and out of a path in the trees.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Moving on we encountered more Sea Lions lying on the rocks
and a variety of birds such as the Cape Petrel and Buller’s Albatross on the
imposing cliffs. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are also encounter
Antarctic Terns, White-fronted Terns, Red-billed Gulls, Tomtits and Fernbirds.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">As our time to return to the ship we rode through a cave
opened at two ends to the sea which provided a nice frame of the ship.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We had lunch at 13:00 and at 16:00 Rodney gave us talk on
“Introduction to the Auckland Islands”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>His talk was followed by a “Quarantine Briefing”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As Rodney told us we would be visiting near
pristine islands.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To ensure that they
stay that way the visiting Expeditions and cruise ships enforce strict
quarantine measures which required we thoroughly clean our clothing, back
packs, shoes, gumboots and any items we take ashore to ride them of any seeds
that could be introduced on the islands.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>A vacuum cleaner was made available to remove seeds from our
objects.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Gumboots and walking shoes
needed to be scrubbed and dipped in a special liquid.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The boot cleaning station was setup on the
forth deck and we were instructed to turn our tag number over and then exit the
cabin area of the ship through the door opposite to the gangway and then walk
around the ship stopping at the boot cleaning station prior to reaching the
gangway.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">After the briefing I carried my laptop to the Bar/Library
and sent Judy and email with the instructions on how she could email me.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We had dinner at 19:30 and I retired to my cabin, wrote in
my journal and retired.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Thursday, January 02,
2014:</b> Enderby Island within the Auckland Islands</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The ship arrived at the sheltered waters of Port Ross,
Auckland Islands at approximately 03:00.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I was deep in sleep when I awoke as they dropped anchor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In just a few minutes I fell back to sleep
until my alarm woke me at 06:00.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I then
took a shower in the shared shower room and then dressed for a Zodiac ride.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We had an early breakfast at 06:30 followed by an Enderby
Island briefing by Rodney. At 07:30 Rodney briefed us on the day’s activity on
shore.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We were given four options.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The first was to stay on board the ship, the
second was to go ashore and hang around the landing point where there was a
colony of penguins and a large heard of seals and sea lions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The third option was to walk around the
island to an Albatross breeding grounds and the forth was to cross the island
and then walk 4 miles around the edge of the island.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Rodney told us the island was named for the same
distinguished shipping family as the vessel was named.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He described it as one of the most beautiful
islands in the group and a great birding location and a chance to see
everything from the famous Southern Royal Albatross and Northern Giant Petrel
to parakeets, Bellbirds and the endemic shag, teal and snipe. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sandy Bay where we landed was one of three
breeding grounds on the Auckland Islands for the rare Hooker’s or New Zealand
Sea Lion. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Enderby Island is part of the
Auckland Islands archipelago in New Zealand. I t is situated just off the
northern tip of Auckland Island, the largest island in the archipelago.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">After the briefing we return to the dining hall where with
help from the cooks we made-up a lunch to take ashore for the eight hours we
would spend ashore.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">At 09:00 we were ferried by Zodiacs to the landing point
where there was a small hut where we could change into our walking shoes and
store our gumboots.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was on the last
wave of passengers to be ferried ashore.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Our Zodiac was greeted by numerous New Zealand Sea Lions as we wadded
across the beach to the hut.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Once
everyone arrived deposited our life vest in a bin and changed into walking
shoes we set out on the walk.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was an
easy one hour walk on wooden platforms through the trees and across streams and
through an open area.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At one point we
were asked to exit the board walk and walk through the tuffs of grass to avoid
an Albatross nesting next to the wooden walk way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It had started to rain very lightly and when
I had to exit into the grass my feet got tangled in the grass and I fell
over.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With a backpack on and the grass wet
from the rain I had a difficult time getting back on my feet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Finally someone walking behind me helped me
regain my footing and as I started out again I got caught up in the grass again
but I was able to stabilize without falling.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I was not happy so I returned to the boardwalk and walked quietly past
the Albatross.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The falling down was an
omen on the future events of the day.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">When reached the north side of the
island we stopped to take pictures and rest a bit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At this point I was disappointed because we
had seen very little wild life and I was tempted to return to the beach and
concentrate on getting good photos of the penguin colony and sea lions, but
foolishly I started out on the 4 mile walk around the island.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">At first it was an easy walk along the
edge of the cliffs across squishy grass.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It then got a little more difficult as we hand to cross a number of
streams.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I fell several times descending
miniature bluffs down to the stream and/or climbing out of the gully on the
other side.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I was walking alone between a group that
had started out before I did and a group that was stopping to take pictures of
the vegetation and flowers.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">After several miles I was getting
discouraged trying to maintain balance in the wet tuffs of grass that were as
high as my waist and finding places to cross the numerous streams.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I started move more away from the cliff edge
up to the tree line looking for a path that would cross the streams where they
was narrow.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I came upon ground cover that appeared
to allow me to walk between the trees across a point of land.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The ground cover was very buoyant and was
holding my weight right up to the trees when it gave way and I discovered that
I had been walking on Myrsine Divaricata plants that formed a thick canopy 3 or
4 feet above solid ground.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Myrsine
Divaricata is a shrub that grows up to 450 meters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It has weeping branches which inter twine to
provide the strength to hold my weight in many areas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Walking on the shrub was like walking on a trampoline.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was bounce around trying to find the
opening between the trees.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most of the
trees had low branches which prohibited walking through them.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Eventually I stepped on a weak spot and
crashed through to the ground trapping me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I couldn’t get back to standing up and bounce my way toward the
coast.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After a bit of time surveying my
options I was able to break a branch off a dead tree and used it to boost
myself out of my trap and lay down on the shrub.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I proceeded to crawl on my belly across
the shrubs along the tree line toward the coast.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At one point I saw a path through the trees
and as I looked at it the shrub broke down spilling me under the tree.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rather than attempt to get back on top of the
shrubs I decided to slide down the path in the trees.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was two thirds of the way when I
encountered a branch across the path that stopped my slide.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Using the dead limb, I was able leverage the branch
enough for me to slide under it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the
process of squeezing under the branch my hat and sunglasses were ripped off my
head and I had a heck of a time pulling myself back up the path to retrieve
them.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">When I reached the end the path I was
able to get up in a patch of tussock grass and heard voices.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A few yards away were my cabin mate, George
and Katya.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I immerged out of the tall
tussock grass and surprised them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had
been trapped for two hours and the group had passed by along the edge of the
cliffs and Katya was the rear guide.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
must have looked like hell!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was
soaking wet so Katya asked me to hand her my parker and back pack which she
could put in her large backpack.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">We soon walked out of the tussock grass
to a spot where we ate lunch and rested for a few minutes before
proceeding.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I went to get my lunch
from the back pack I found that the zipper had separated and even though the
pulls from each side were together at the midway point both sides of the zipper
was open.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At that time I realized my
smart phone was missing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It had been in
my back pack and when I was sliding down the path under the trees it must have
been ripped out like my hat and sunglasses had as I squeezed under low tree
limbs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was too late to go back and
look for it and it would be very difficult to find where I had slid down the
path under the trees anyway.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">We came upon the forest that grew right
down to the cliffs so we had to make our way through the forest.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The trees in the forest where significantly
larger than the ones I had slid down the path through allowing us to walk
through them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The outer edge of the
forest had a row of dead trees and I broke off a branch to use as a walking
stick.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">When we traversed the trees and entered
an open area George was taking a lot of pictures so Katya told me to walk ahead
and see if I could catch up to Marcus’ group.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I walked on through tussock up to my chest and occasionally stumbled as
the grass caught my shoes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was very
frustrating to walk through.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On several
occasions I came close to stepping on a sea lion hidden in the tussock grass.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">When I caught up to Marcus he tried to
lead the way but had as much trouble as I had crossing the streams.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His group was taking a lot of pictures so
soon Katya caught up to us and she knew where the easy crossings were.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At one point Rodney driving a Zodiac toward
us and asked Katya if any of the remaining group wanted ride back to the
hut.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We all declined since I knew that
we had to walk by a group of penguins which I hoped would enable me to take
some good photos.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We walked on and I was
able to get some photos of penguins near the beach.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">At the hut I changed back into my
gumboots although my walking shoes were very wet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was on the last Zodiacs at 17:00 to return
to the ship with passengers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had been
ashore for eight hours with two hours struggling to get out of the Myrsine
Divaricata shrub and trees.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Back on board the ship I found that all
my clothes, hat, shoes and socks were soaking wet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I shed them hung them on a railing in the
hall across from my cabin and then took a shower.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was exhausted and the shower felt good.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I checked email and learned that after
over four months the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LA DWP) finally
turned on my solar electricity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had
signed up for it in August.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The panels
were not installed until late November and then after a series of inspections
they approved the installation and system.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I napped before the late (20:00)
dinner.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After dinner I retired to my
cabin and went to bed.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Friday, January 03,
2014:</b> Carnley Harbor, Auckland Islands</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The ship dropped anchor in Carnley Harbor at 07:00 which was
four hours transit from our mooring at Enderby Island.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At breakfast most of the group appeared and reported
that they had slept soundly until 03:00 when the ship started up for the cruise
to the Harbor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cathy was the only no
show.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bob told us the she had not slept
well during the transit and then fallen asleep when the ship dropped anchor and
he didn’t wake her for breakfast at 07:30.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">At 08:30 Rodney briefed us on the day’s activities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He drew a map of the harbor on the white
board and marked were the Zodiacs would land and cruise around the harbor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The first landing was to see what was left of
“Grafton” and the huts the crew built and stayed in for 18 months before being
rescued.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">There were no penguin colonies to visit in the harbor so I
elected to stay on board and clean my clothes, write in my journal and try to
get over the depression as a result of my losing my smart phone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was like losing a part of my brain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I rely on the knowledge of people, places and
things stored on the phone.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The ships laundry had a fast turnaround but I could tell
they didn’t spot the dirt and grass stains on my clothes that I picked up on my
slide under the trees.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They at least
smelled clean.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">When the travelers returned Agnes called out the numbers of
the tags that were still read.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She did
that several times until only one number was red.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She then knocked on my cabin and asked if my
cabin mate had returned.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had not seen
him and suggested that she check the boot cleaning station.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Next she called out his name and after a few
minutes returned to our cabin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I
reported that he still had not arrived she called Rodney to inform him that
George had been left ashore.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Through their binoculars they saw him on the beach and
cruised back to pick him up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>George has
a fascination with the woods and was taking pictures in the woods when the
Zodiac left his area.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Anyway he was back
before lunch at 12:30.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">At 16:00 we had a lecture by Marcus on “Geology and
Biogeography of the Sub Antarctic Islands.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He pointed out that <span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Macquarie
Island is one of only four islands in the world created by the collision of two
plates and where the mid-ocean crustal rocks are exposed at the surface.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The collision squeezed out an elongated
island 34 km in length and only 5 km wide.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Marcus described how the plates move and how the rare event created
Macquarie Island.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The significance for
geologist is that they can study the composition and structure of the oceanic
crust without having to dredge or drill at the bottom of the ocean.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Only Cyprus, Newfoundland and Oman were
formed in similar fashion by their rock sequences are often fused with
continental rocks.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Marcus is the youngest member of the
staff and his presentation skills were not as good as the other staff
lecturers.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">The ship had raised anchor after lunch
and was rocking and rolling at dinner time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I took one look at the appetizer of black mushrooms and I lost my
appetite and returned to my room. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Saturday, January 04,
2014:</b> At Sea</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Because it was a full day at sea with the estimated time to
reach our next destination of Macquarie Island at mid-night they scheduled a
late breakfast at 08:30.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I slept very
soundly until about 05:30 when something banged and woke me up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I then returned to sleep and slept lightly
until 07:30 when I got up and took a shower and shaved.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The movement of the ship made taking a shower
a challenge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On most ships I have sailed
on the shower stall was rather small and I could lean against a side and lather
up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The shower I used on the Spirit of
Enderby was a large area with only one large grab bar on the Starboard side and
a small handle on the stern side near the faucet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This made it difficult when the ship rolled
to the port side.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To compound the
situation the shower curtain would slide back and forth exposing my clothes and
towel to the shower spray.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I eventually
finished and returned to my cabin to get dressed for breakfast.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">My patch came off in the shower and it had completed its
three days of effectiveness so I applied a new patch by my left ear.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Robert, Bob and I were one of the first to get our
breakfast.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The McCuen’s joined us and
Laurie sat with us but didn’t eat anything.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The Parda’s eventually joined us but Marion and Mike were no shows.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">At 10:00 we attended a lecture by Samuel on “Sea Birds of
the Southern Ocean”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The presentation
was very well organized with excellent pictures and descriptions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a very professional presentation.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">At noon Katya gave a presentation on “Cetaceans of the
Southern Ocean” which was also very well organized with excellent pictures and
descriptions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It also was a very
professional presentation.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Lunch followed Katya’s presentation and then at 14:30 Rodney
briefed us on “An Introduction to <span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Macquarie
Island” it was also </span>a very professional presentation.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Robert Ippolito conducted an Interdenominational Eucharist
Service which most of our group attended.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>After the service I stopped by Bob and Cathy’s cabin to discuss the
itinerary on the April tour to Sri Lanka, Maldives and Western India.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mike was there and discussed a Trans Siberia
railroad trip that they had just gotten a flyer on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mike took me up the Communications room where
he was sending and receiving emails.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Earlier he had seen that I had two emails from Judy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Both of which I had seen when I hooked up my
laptop to check email.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The Bar opened at 18:30 and dinner was served at 19:30.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Sunday, January 05,
2014:</b> Sandy Bay, Macquarie Island, Australia</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We cruised into Australian territory which had a two hour
earlier time difference.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The ship’s
clock stayed on New Zealand time but the activities ashore needed to be
coordinated with Island’s staff on their time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>So, breakfast was not served until 08:30.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At 09:00 Rodney took a Zodiac ashore to
pick-up the island’s rangers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The ship
then cruised to Sandy Bay.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">At 09:45 we all gathered in the Lecture room to get a
briefing on visiting Sandy Bay.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rodney
drew a map on the white board and marked were the Royal Penguins colony was
located and were the King Penguins colony were located.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He then described the boundaries of the area
we could walk.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the south side was a
stream which we were not to cross and on the north side the rangers laid down a
rope on the edge of the King Penguin colony.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>At the edge of the stream he indicated that there was a wooden walkway
that leads to the Royal Penguin colony.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We were told that a number of rangers would be stationed on the beach to
guide us and answer out questions.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Chris, the local ranger also briefed us on the different
personalities of the two penguin species and the Sea Lions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He described the island as “One of the wonder
spots of the world”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Informing us that this
is the only place in the world where the beautiful Royal Penguin breeds. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Three other species of penguins, the King,
Gentoo and Rockhopper also breed on the island but we would not see the Gentoo
and Rockhopper at Sandy Bay.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
described the hundreds of Southern Elephant Seals lolling on the beaches and
dunes that we will encounter on Sandy Bay’s beach.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Chris also talked about the success of the ratification of the
rabbits that used to run wild and destroy the <span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">tussock
grass.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He told us that one of the
island’s staff would be on the beach with two dogs that are trained to hunt
rabbits.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He noted that no rabbit has
been found during the past year so they hope they have been eliminated.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">After the meeting I returned to my cabin and got dressed to
go ashore.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I took my glasses off to rub
sun screen on my face and forgot to them on until I was about to enter the gang
way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I ended up on the last Zodiac to
the beach.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Katya was driving and we
passed by many clusters on penguins in the water.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we approached the landing point, where
Rodney was waiting, a big Southern Elephant Seal popped up in front of
him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had to drift for a minute for
the seal to move out of our way.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It was a wet landing and since there was no long walk we
were advised to just wear our gumboots.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I was wearing my yellow water proof pants that I had worn in South
Georgia.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mike calls them “Fisherman
Gordon’s” pants from the advertisement.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I waded ashore and was greeted by two little dogs and their
handler.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were mixed breeds and
small enough to be carried in a Sherpa Bag.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I walked south on the beach taking many photos to the stairs up to the
boardwalk that led to the Royal Penguin breeding grounds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Along the way I saw the destruction the
rabbits caused by eating the grass.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At
the end of the boardwalk there was a viewing platform overlooking the Royal
Penguin breeding ground.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Ranger
stationed on the platform told us that 1.5 million Royal Penguins breed in the
area we were observing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The noise was
almost deafening.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I watched the activity
for a while and took my pictures.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I then
walked back to the beach and crossed by the heard of Southern Elephant Seals to
the King Penguin colony.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After a while
taking pictures there I walked back to the beach and found that the first
Zodiac to take passengers back to the ship was about to leave.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My camera’s battery was about to fail so I
grabbed a life vest and joined the group that included Bob and Cathy, Linda and
Del, Marion and Robert leaving for the ship.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Lunch was served at 14:30 so that everyone could be shuttled
back to the ship.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After lunch they
started the trips back to Sandy Bay.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As
much as I liked Sandy Bay with its two large colonies of penguins I decided not
to go back on the afternoon shuttle.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I wrote in my journal and set up my iPod to listen to music
before the bar opened.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The bar was
crowded with the Ranger staff on board.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We engaged them in conversation and learned a little more about the
stations operation and day to activities.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Dinner was served at 20:00 and after dinner I retired to my
cabin and went to bed by 22:00.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Monday, January 06,
2014:</b> Lusitania Bay and Buckles Bay Macquarie Island</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I had a good night’s sleep.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The ship did not rock and roll.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>At 05:00 I awoke briefly and then returned to a deep sleep which was
broken at 06:45 by an announcement by Rodney informing us that the ship had
moved to Lusitania Bay where there was the largest King Penguin colony on the
island.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rodney was providing us with the
opportunity to take a Zodiac ride along the beach.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were so many penguins on the beach
there was not room to land and walk around.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I decided to take the ride.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>When it was my turn to board the Zodiac I climbed down the gangway and
was standing on the platform to board the Zodiac a large swell hit the platform
and filled my right boot with water.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My
left leg was on the Zodiac and I was split as the swell had moved the Zodiac
away from the platform and it was moving away.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Since my right boot was full of water I couldn’t move it on to the
Zodiac quickly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Samuel and the deckhand
on the Zodiac garbed my out stretched arms and pulled me into the Zodiac in a
not very graceful operation and I tumbled into the Zodiac.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was difficult for me to get up and sit on
the side of the Zodiac but with help from those on board I finally was able to
get up and sit on the side of the Zodiac.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I didn’t try to remove my gumboot to empty the water and left it full of
water from the short ride along the beach.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">On the way to the beach we saw a lot of King Penguins
swimming and a flock of Southern Giant petrel birds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At one point we passed by a dead penguin
floating on its back and a ring of petrels were feeding on the corps.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The large number of penguins in the colony was an impressive
site.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the middle of the colony were
three rusty tanks that were used at one time to pressure cook penguins to
extract their oil.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After cruising up and
down the Bay we returned to the ship for breakfast.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The sea was a lot smoother at the gangway and
I exited the Zodiac without any trouble.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I still had a boot full of water so I removed my boots in
the shower.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My left boot was dry but
water poured out of my right boot.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had
not worn boot socks but I had worn thermal underwear and the right pants leg
needed to be squeezed dry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Shedding the
thermal underwear pants I went to breakfast without socks and just normal under
pants under my Gore-Tex pants.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">At 09:30 Rodney briefed us on the landing at Buckles
Bay.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was the site of the ranger
station and had boundaries around the area we were permitted to go.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In addition each ten passengers would be
assigned a local guide to lead us around the area and explain what we observed
and answered our questions.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">At 10:00 they started ferrying passengers to the Bay.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even though we would due a fair amount of
walking Rodney told us it would be best if we just wore our gumboots and not
take walking shoes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wore my boot socks
(a light pair under a heavy pair), Gore-Tex pants without the thermal pants, my
regular underwear and my thermal shirt and parka.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">My boarding the Zodiac went a lot smoother than the morning
boarding.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the beach the group in my
Zodiac was assigned to Tony, the site’s communication manager.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He started us off by climbing the stairs on
the south boundary of our permitted to visit area.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the top was an observation point where we
had an excellent view of the isthmus and the beach on both the east and west
side and the ranger station.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We then walked down the stairs to the beach and then between
two hills to the west side beach where the Gentoo Penguin’s had their
colony.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was not as dense as the Royal
Penguins and King Penguin colonies that we had visited earlier but they were
cute to watch and photograph.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Inter
mixed with the penguins were Southern Elephant seals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Right on the water’s edge I was able to take
photos of two of the seals wrestling.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We walked toward the Ranger buildings and passed two other
seals going at.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They appeared to trying
to bit each other but they would back off, laydown, rest a few minutes and then
raise up again and go at it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We arrived
at the weather station in time to see the daily weather balloon launched.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The weather man then showed us the little
sensor attached to the balloon that transmits weather readings back to the
ground.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Once the balloon was launched we returned to the west side
beach to see the Antarctic Tern in a hill of rocks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Along the way we bothered a sleeping New
Zealand Fur seal and he got a little aggressive and started to approach our
group.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We gave it a wide berth and moved
on.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The next stop was the station dining hall where we had tea
and scones with jam and cream.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While we
were there they showed us a video of the station personnel dancing and playing
air guitar to sound of rock song.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">After the tea we continued on the tour and Tony described
the functions of each building.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Near the
point we had landed he lead us on a boardwalk to a platform that over looked
rusty tanks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A display board described
the use of the tanks as pressure cookers to produce penguin oil.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I just can think that men would kill the cute
little innocent creatures for oil.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">That was the last stop on our shore excursion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We boarded a Zodiac driven by Katya.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I got a boot full of water as I was boarding
the Zodiac.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was not my lucky
day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Katya drove us to a Rockhopper
Penguin colony on the rocks north of the Ranger station.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unfortunately we could not get too close but
I could see where they got their name as the hopped around the rocky
cliff.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were smaller than the
Gentoo, Royal and King penguins.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Surprising
us was a New Zealand Fur Seal among the rocks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I would have loved to see how he climbed to his perch.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Returning to the ship I had an uneventful exit from the
Zodiac.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was time for lunch and I shed
my gumboots and socks in the shower to dump the water and wore my sandals
without socks to lunch.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The served salad
and spaghetti with a delicious meat sauce.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">After lunch I showered and shaved before we watched a
documentary on the eradication of rats, mice and rabbits on Macquarie
Island.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was very interesting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They provided a free DVD of the documentary
for each passenger.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">After the show I returned to my cabin and wrote in my
journal until 18:00 when I went up to the bar.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Mike told me that I had an email so I returned to my cabin and carried
my laptop back to the bar to get the message.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It was Bob Parda’s birthday and Cathy invited us to their
cabin at 19:15 to celebrate before dinner.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It was a nice little party with wine and snacks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At 20:00 we went to dinner.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cathy had arrange to have the chefs bake a
cake and we had a double dessert with a piece of Bob’s birthday cake and
regular dessert which was a small scoop of ice cream in a bowl of berries.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">After dinner I retired to my room and went to bed.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Tuesday, January 07,
2014</b>: At Sea</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Despite the ‘rocking and rolling’ I had a sound sleep
awaking only once when George opened the door to the hall.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Initially at breakfast only Robert<span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"> Ippolito, Bob Ihsen, Laurie and the
McCuen’s were there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Parda’s arrived
after the McCuen’s had left.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mike and
Marion didn’t appear.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">At 10:00 Samuel gave a presentation on
‘Penguins’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He again gave a very well
organized professional presentation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
had seen other presentations on penguins in the past but Samuel’s was the best
in explaining where the different species were located.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He had excellent pictures.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">After a thirty minute break Dr. John
gave a presentation on ‘Shipwrecks of the Sub Antarctic Islands’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The presentation was not as polished as
Samuel’s and some of his pictures and stories were repeats of what was on
display at the </span>Southland Museum and Art Gallery that we had visited in Invercargill.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We then had a period before lunch.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I updated my journal and checked my email.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">After lunch we had a lecture by Katya on “Pinnipeds of the
Southern Ocean”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was another
excellent very informative and professional presentation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She started by defining the word “pinnipeds”
from the Latin <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">pinna</i>, wing or fin,
and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">ped</i>, foot or fin-footed marine
mammals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The presentation defined three
families of Pinnipeds: True Seals = Phocids with 19 species; Eared Seals =
Otariids with 14 species and Walrus with its own species.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She concentrated on discussing the Seals of
the Southern Ocean that we had seen or will see during our expedition.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The last presentation of the day was on Campbell
Island.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rodney gave us the history of
the island when it was founded and various settlements that were made on the
island.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The island was first used for
whaling and fur seals like the other Sub Antarctic islands we visited but when
that was stopped an attempt to farm and raise sheep and cattle were made.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The cost of transporting the wool produced
and supplies resulted in the effort being abounded in the 1930s leaving sheep
and cows to fend for themselves for several decades until they were finally eradicated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A successful eradication of cats, rats and
mice was made.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Currently there are no
one living on the island.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">After dinner the five of us (Laurie, Bob Ihsen, Linda and
Del) continuing on to Cocos and Christmas Islands were invited to Bob and
Cathy’s cabin to see their photos taken last year when they visited the
islands.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I then retired for the night.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Wednesday, January
08, 2014:</b> Campbell Island</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The ship arrived in Perseverance Harbor, Campbell Island at
03:30.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was a little jolt that woke
me up as it rounded the point before dropping anchor in the calm harbor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was easy to go back to sleep with no more
motion.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We had an early breakfast at 07:30 followed by a briefing by
Rodney on the day’s plan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He gave us
three options.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Option one was to go
ashore after making your own lunch for a 12km walk across the hills to
Northwest Bay on the other side of the island and see the strange and beautiful
megaherbs growing on the hills and back to the harbor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The trail would be well marked through <span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">tussock grass.</span> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The second option was to take a Zodiac ride
around the harbor, going ashore at Tucker Cove, site of the homestead, and at Camp
Cove, site of the Sitka Spruce tree (the loneliest tree in the world) then
returning to the ship for lunch.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After
lunch return for a dry landing and walk on a board walk to Col Lyall to the
nesting site of the Southern Royal Albatross.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The third option was to stay on board.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I chose the second option and was in the first Zodiac along
with Marian, Bob Ihsen, and Robert <span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Ippolito,</span>
driven my Katya.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We departed at 10:00
and rode to Tucker Cove.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am glad I had
purchased the highest gumboots because the water was up to my calf when we
beached at the cove.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was a stream
hidden by tussock grass that we had to cross to get to an old rusty stove, the
last remains of the homestead.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is
hard to imagine that there were no remains of buildings or other items except
the stove.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There had to be an untold
story about it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Anyway, it was something
to take a picture of on our way up to a bluff.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I walked and slushed around the bluff and found that after the stove
there was nothing interesting to take pictures of except out in the cove where
there was a seal bobbing up and down in the water.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I returned to the Zodiacs and saw some birds
along the beach just past the Zodiacs.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We eventually climbed back on board.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was wearing my highway workers heavy yellow
rain pants which made it difficult to swing my legs over the side of the Zodiac
but with a little help from Katya I got back in and we shoved off to cruise to
Camp Cove.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The beach at Camp Cove was not as rocky as Tucker Cove so it
was almost a dry landing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Sitka
Spruce was impressive considering it was planted in 1900.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It holds the Guinness world record as the loneliest
tree in the world because it is the only tree on Campbell Island and the
nearest island with trees is 140 miles away.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">As I walked up a wide shallow stream toward the tree I was
fascinated by a New Zealand or Hooker’s sea lion that appeared to be posing for
us. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I took a lot of pictures and he got
up and almost ran to the water, plunged in and swam toward the Zodiacs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I turned my attention on the tree and a pair of
sea lions up the side of a bluff in tall grass that Bill Hendricks was taking
close up pictures of.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I started
back down the stream toward the Zodiacs the big sea lion had returned from his
dip in the water and appeared to be after my yellow pants.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I kept moving to higher ground but he kept
coming in my direction.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He also was
after one of the other passenger that was wearing a yellow parka.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Eventually I moved far enough away that he
turned his attention to the yellow parka.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He was a good subject for picture taking.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">When it came time to leave the water had receded and two of
the Zodiacs were high and dry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had to
lift them to get them back in the water.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Marcus had joined our Zodiac and was receiving a Zodiac driving lesson
with Katya.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We cruised around the harbor
a bit slowing down when we came upon birds standing on rocks along the shore line
in Garden Cove and crossed the harbor to Venus Cove where the French had camped
to observe the crossing of Venus in 1874.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">When we returned to the ship we had a “picnic” lunch where
we made our own sandwiches from items laid out on the counter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After lunch I decided to not return for the
walk along the board walk to Col Lyall, the nesting site of the Southern Royal
Albatross.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I read a little and wrote in
my journal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I caught up on my
journal I turned my attention to my next trip in April which will include
travel in areas of India that I had not visited in the past.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Remembering that Marion had spent a lot of
time in India I carried my laptop up to the Bar/Library and asked her about the
areas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She was very helpful and we had a
long discussion that included her telling me about growing up in the Niles area
of what is now Fremont, California where I lived when I got out of the USAF and
my daughters went to high school.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The people that had gone ashore returned around 17:30 and
the quiet ship woke up and the bar filled with people telling stories about the
various adventures during the walks and Zodiac rides back to the ship.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had a long talk with Robert <span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Ippolito about his travels and the pope.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">For dinner we had a delicious sea food soup as a starter and
I had the fish over mashed potatoes with wasabi mixed in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had never had the combination and it was
very good with the fish.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For desert the
served tiramisu.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">During dinner an announcement was made that those that would
like to climb Mt. Honey, sign a sheet in the bar and they will be wakened at
05:00 and depart at 06:00.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No one from
our group signed up.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Thursday, January 09,
2014:</b> Depart Campbell Island</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I awoke at 05:00 when those that were going to climb Mt.
Honey were stirring and walking up and down the hall to the toilets and shower
but quickly fell back it sleep as the ship was dead clam.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A little after six my cabin mate awoke and I
finally rose at 07:15.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I showered and
was in the first group to breakfast.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
Advantage Travel group didn’t occupy the rear seats in the dining room and it
was interesting to sit with a group of New Zealand birders.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They ask Bob Ihsen and I a lot of questions
about the Traveler’s Century Club.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They
didn’t really have an understanding of the wide range of places we visit and
how the TCC list just provides us with the names of places we would not think
of visiting if they were not on the list.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I think they were a lot more appreciative of our ventures that they had
before the breakfast conversation.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The weather was not good with a heavy overcast, light rain
and fog.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The top of Mt. Honey was
covered with low clouds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was no
schedule posted for the day so Rodney had a meeting in the Lecture Room at
08:45 to discuss various options.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His
report from the mountain hikers was that Agnes was returning with one pair and
Katya was a 100 meters from the top in a strong wind with sleet like rain.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">On the comical side Rodney first listed the excuses for not
taking the hike up Mt. Honey such as:</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Shoes were wet</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">To stiff</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">No view</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Too lazy</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Too old</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Too smart</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">He then listed the options for the day:</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">A.</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Read</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">B.</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Sleep</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">C.</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Eat</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">D.</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Drink</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">E.</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Shop</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">F.</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Clean</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">G.</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Shower</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">H.</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Pack</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I.</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Download Photos</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">J.</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Email</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">K.</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Movies</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">L.</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Briefing on Hobbits</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">On the serious side a group urged him to schedule a shore
excursion to walk on the boardwalk to the Albatross nesting area.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He agreed and the meeting adjourned so those
that wanted to take the excursion could get dress and meet on the gangway.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As we left Dr. John said he would give the
take on his experience as a Hobbit in the afternoon.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I asked Bob Parda if he could correlate my scheduled stops
in India in April to the Most Traveled People (MPT) list and we met in the
Bar/Library with my laptop and ticked off the list I would be scheduled on my
list of MTP locations to visit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As a
result Cathy is going to modify the April trip to include an additional World
Heritage Site in lieu of visiting Kashmir again.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">After my meeting with Bob and Cathy I sent Judy and Wendy
and email informing them that today was the last day I could receive an email
addressed to my ship address and to be on the safe side if they sent me one
they should Cc my msn.com account.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
also asked them to turn on Skype and leave their desktops on with Skype on Friday
and Saturday so I might beable to talk to them from a Air New Zealand Lounge
and/o the hotel on my way to Auckland.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I returned to my room and read until they showed a video in
the lecture room on one year of the life of an Albatross titled Grandma.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Albatross had been tagged in 1937 and
was still mating in 1990.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It showed the
mating with her younger partner, the hatching of the egg, the shared (between
female and male) incubation of the egg, the breakout of the chick, and the
feeding of the chick until after a year when the chick took to the air to fly
for five years before it touched land again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It was a fascinating documentary.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">When the group from the shore excursion returned to the ship
we had lunch.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For the first time on the
trip we did not have salad for lunch.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Instead they served a cold mixture of shrimp, pieces of fish and sausage
in a tomato sauce with small boiled potatoes in a mayonnaise dressing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was delicious.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The ship left the anchorage at 13:00.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I returned to my room and packed my cold
weather gear in the suit case I planned to ship home from Auckland.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Shortly afterward the seas became rough.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we sailed around the point there were
numerous Albatrosses of many types flying around the ship.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I tried to take a picture of one in flight
but was not successful.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I returned to my
cabin to read and write.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The seas continued to be rough and dinner was a
challenge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was sitting in a swivel
chair next to a wall in the dining room.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Several times I was smashed against the wall and then against Cathy who
was sittng next to me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not everyone
attended dinner because the sea was so rough.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It is a shame because the served a pepper steak that I could cut with a
fork.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">After dinner I retired to my cabin and went to bed.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b><span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Friday, January 10, 2014</span></b>:
Last day at sea<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I was not able to sleep soundly and woke on many occasions
as I slid back and forth in my bunk.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
finally got up at 07:30 and got dressed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I skipped taking shower since it ran the risk of getting bruised as I
would have banged against the walls in the shower room.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wish they had a railing around the sides of
the shower; it would make it easier to take a shower in the rough seas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They just have one or two grab handles.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Breakfast was at 08:30.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Again not everyone appeared.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Rodney announced during breakfast that there was no scheduled program
for the day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He thought the seas were
too rough to gather in the Lecturer room.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">After breakfast I returned to my cabin to read, write in my
journal and watched videos on my laptop.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Our entire group showed up for lunch but there were many empty seats at
the other tables.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The lunch included a
bowl of boiled chicken pieces in a thin sauce.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Twice during lunch the ship rolled so violently that the sauce in my
bowl spilled over the edge into my lap.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The first time it missed my pants.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I got a piece of bread and put it in the bowl to soak up the sauce but
right after I put the bread in my bowl the ship rolled and the sauce spilled
out and this time it caught my pants.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Rodney announced that he still thought the ship was rocking
and rolling to much to schedule any Lectures.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">After lunch I returned to my cabin and watched videos before
the delivered our bill for the expedition.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>At 15:00 the bills were delivered and Agnes called passengers by deck
number to go to her office on the 6<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> deck.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">After I settled my account I returned to my cabin and
watched videos on my laptop until 18:45 when I went up to Bob and Cathy’s cabin
for a farewell party.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The ship was
rocking and rolling and wine boxes and nuts were sliding all over the cabin.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Dinner was served buffet style with a choice of turkey lamb
and beef.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was good meal but tgood
meal but the “rocking and rolling” continued and wine spilled on Bob Parda
several times.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After dinner we gathered
in the Lecturer Room for the disbarment briefing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Katya showed a PowerPoint presentation of
photos taken during the trip.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After the
show I was able to get a thumb drive with the PowerPoint and copied it to my
laptop.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I then returned to my cabin did
some packing before going to bed.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Saturday, January 11,
2014:</b> Dock in Port of Bluff and then fly Invercargill to Auckland via
Christchurch.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Our last night on board the ship was rough before we reached
the port around 03:00.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I woke around
06:00 to shower, shave and pack.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was
nice to take a shower with not having to hold on to the grab bar.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We were asked to finish packing and place our
luggage outside our cabin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Breakfast was
eaten quickly so I could return to finish last minute packing of my carry
on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At 08:15 we had to meet with the
Customs and Immigration officials in the Bar/Library.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">As I stood in line one of the first passengers to meet with
the officials came out and reported to us that they wanted us to show them our
boots and shoes to make sure we were not tracking any seeds into New
Zealand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I returned to my cabin and
retrieved them from my luggage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I didn’t
check the bottom of the boots as I carried them back to the line.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Several of the passengers were having a
difficult time picking seeds from their shoes with a tooth pick or the end of
the laces.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When came to my turn I lifted
the boots for inspection and the custom official found a small pebble stuck in
the boot pattern.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He flicked it out and
signed my form which the Immigration official stamp and he stamped my passport
and I rushed back to the cabin to repack my boots and prepare to exit the
ship.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The seaman came by and picked up
my luggage to load in a truck to go to the airport.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I exited the ship with my backpack.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had let them take my carry on to load in
the truck.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We gathered for a group
picture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was in the back and could
barely see the cameraman so I think I would be hard to find in the
picture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We then boarded the bus and I
sat next to <span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Bob Ippolito.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was about a thirty minute ride to the
airport.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The truck was still unloading
luggage when we exited the bus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
grabbed a cart and when my bags were offloaded I was right there.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Inside the terminal Cathy was already at
the Star Alliance Gold check-in counter trying to arrange earlier flights for
our group.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She got Marion and the
McCuen’s on the next flight out, Mike on the flight an hour later but Laurie,
Bob Ihsen and I stayed with our scheduled 14:05 flight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The agent asked me to wait to check my bag
until there was no one else in line.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>When I did check in he asked me to move some things from my heavier bag
to my lighter bag.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Once I complied and
had my boarding passes I went upstairs to the Air New Zealand lounge with Bob
and Cathy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mike was already there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cathy then went looking for Bob Ihsen and got
him into the lounge.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I hooked up my laptop and connected to
the internet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had about a thousand
emails to sort through.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have them sent
to folders by subject so I could quickly read the important ones.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I paid my credit cards on line but had
trouble paying my quarterly tax bill.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
was locked out of my BillPay account and could not call to get it
unlocked.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Credit Union sent me a
message informing me that I had not correctly answered the security question on
who was my favorite musical performer or group.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I responded and ask for help explaining that I couldn’t telephone
them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I told them they should ask
questions that had factually basis like what was the name of my high school or
my brand of my first care, not a subjective question like my favorite teacher
or sports team.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I didn’t get a replay.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had deleted over 500 emails when it came
time to board the plane.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The flight was
late but we still had time in Christchurch to get our flight to Auckland.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we checked in and I was going down the
air bridge to the aircraft I realized I had left my backpack on the seat where
we were sitting waiting to board the aircraft.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The agent let me retrieve it and I was soon settled in my seat.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">It was a smooth, little over one hour
flight to Auckland.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the baggage claim
I exchanged money and inquired about the cost of a super shuttle to our
hotel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was $51 for the three of
us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We loaded our bags in the trailer
behind the van and were driven to the hotel.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">It was 18:45 when I got in my room and attempted
to set up my laptop.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I discovered that
the outlet next to the former internet cable powered off when the light were
turned off.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The only outlet in the room
that stayed on after the lights were turned off was in the hall by the bathroom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had to move a table over there to plug in
my laptop and use an extension cord to plug in my CPAP machine. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After I got set up I tried to call Judy on
Skype.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She didn’t answer so I called
Wendy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She called Judy on the land line
and soon Judy called me on Skype so we caught up on things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After our talk I continued to read and delete
emails.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Eventually I went to bed.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The Galapagos of the Southern Ocean
Expedition was over.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had survived
without injury, but lost half my brain when I lost my smart phone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was the first time I had gone ten days
without a smart phone since before my first Palm Pilot in the mid 1990’s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was time to get ready for the next stop on
the trip, a tour of Indian Ocean islands.</span></span></div>
Edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03034021752003929779noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2230692068076603436.post-85326215762971094872013-12-15T22:48:00.002-08:002013-12-15T22:48:42.306-08:00Finishing Africa - October & November 2013
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">October 7 to 12,
2013:</b> Prolog<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The purpose of this trip was to finish visiting all the UN
countries in Africa.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had in the past
had visas issued for Libya, Algeria, Chad, Central African Republic, Equatorial
Guinea, Sao Tome and Principe and Eritrea but had not been able to visit those
countries for various reasons.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the
spring of 2013 I arranged with Klaus Billep, Universal Travel Systems (UTS) to
plan a trip to visit those countries plus some additional areas in the African
area.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He scheduled an itinerary that
visited all those countries and we set about obtaining visas and flights.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">As the planned departure date of October 13 approached we
started to have difficulty in following the planned itinerary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>First the Algerians held my passport for
three weeks without affixing a visa so with less than a week before my
departure Passport Visas Express in Washington, DC had to retrieve the passport
from the Algerian Embassy and FedEx it back to California, cancelling the
Algeria visit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Second, the seizure of Abu
Anas Al-Libi, a wanted terrorist in Libya changed the Libyan agreement with UTS’s
Tripoli Travel Agency to issue my visa upon arrival in Tripoli so I had to
FedEx my 10 year passport to Washington so that Passport Visas Express could
get the visa issued in Washington for the visa which supposedly had been
approved by the authorities in Tripoli.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Those two events required major last minute changes in my
itinerary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The first change was to
schedule something in place of the visit to Algeria.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I decided to visit Ceuta, Spanish Morocco and
then travel on to Madrid which I had never spent time in and be in a safe place
to have my 10 year passport sent to.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">If I have the Libyan visa I would then fly to Tripoli to
tour the Roman ruins and continue the original schedule visiting Chad, Somalia,
the Sinai, the Canary and Madeira Island before flying back to LA.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">If I didn’t get the Libyan visa issued then my first desire
was to visit my daughter Robin who was just starting a new job in Berlin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I stayed up late Thursday night to work out
the flights only to learn the next morning that Robin was going to be back in
the US to attend a high level trade meeting in Washington, DC.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My next plan was to visit Northern Spain and
Friday UTS arranged a train trip to San Sebastian for a tour and then fly from
Bilbao, Spain to Somaliland with a change of planes in Tripoli.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The details of the two alternative schedules required UTS to
work through Friday and Saturday morning requiring the UTS owner, Klaus Billep
to drive out to my house Saturday afternoon with the revised airline tickets
and my 2 year passport.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We reviewed the itinerary and I was informed that due to the
situation in Tripoli I would have to pay the local agent in cash plus several
other countries required cash payments.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I had not planned on carrying that much cash so after Klaus left I made
a mad dash to a Wells Fargo bank in a local Super Market to withdraw several
thousand dollars in $100 bills dated 2006 or later and not marked up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was not a quick withdrawal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So many bills are marked that it was
difficult on a Saturday night to find bills that would be accepted in Africa.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Cash in hand I then spent most of the night entering the
revised itinerary and flights in my Outlook and Gmail calendars so my family
would have them and I would be alerted on my smart phone with flight details.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Sunday, October 13,
2013:</b> Travel to Asmara, Eritrea<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I only had a few hours’ sleep before waking to do final
packing and eating breakfast before the GO Sedan driver picked me up at
07:55.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a driver I hadn’t ridden
with before.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was from Columbia and
spoke with a heavy accent so I rode in silence and dozed off on the way to
LAX.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since it was a Sunday the traffic
was light and I arrived at the United Terminal in thirty minutes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Check-in was a little slow since they have
very few agents on duty and my passport and visa had to be checked before my
boarding pass was issued, but the good news was my departure gate was in
Terminal 6 and they had just established a TSA pre check line.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was the only one in the line and didn’t
have to remove my laptop or shoes and was able to go through the full body scan
machine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was like pre 9/11.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What a good start.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My gate was across from the United Club where
I was able to relax awaiting the departure.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The first leg of my flight to Asmara, Eritrea was to San
Francisco where I would board a flight to Frankfurt.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was not a long layover but I was able to
spend some time in the United Club and talked with my daughter Wendy and granddaughter
Christine before I boarded the aircraft.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It was close to a full plane but I was fortunate to have one of the few
empty seats next to me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was flying
Economy Plus on United Miles and was very comfortable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The one drawback is United B-747-400 has not
ungraded their economy seats to have individual video so if I wanted to watch a
movie it had to be the one shown on the large screen in front of the economy
section.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had already seen the first
movie, “The Way, Way Back” and fell asleep during the second movie titled “The
Interns” which I wanted to watch to see how the movie described Google’s
culture.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Monday, October 14,
2013:</b> Arrive in Asmara, Eritrea<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">When I arrived at Frankfurt I was surprised to find that my
cell phone was not finding a connection.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I had to process through security again to leave the arrival area.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This time I was subjected to a full wand and
pat down.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Germans don’t perform the
gentle back of the hand rub; rather they grab each leg and pull down almost
removing my pants.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the way to my next
flight’s gate I encountered a split with the gate down a corridor to the left
and the airport lounges to the right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
turned right and the first lounge I found was the Air Canada lounge and they
accepted my Star Alliance Gold card and let me in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was nice and not as crowded as I have found
the Lufthansa lounges to me in my last trips through the airport.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I called Verizon Support using the Wi-Fi in the lounge and
my Vonage VOIP app on my cell phone and had them activate Global Roaming.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since it was near noon in Germany I ate a
light lunch in the lounge and then headed for my gate in order to process in
for the 12:35 departure.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The gate was
one that uses a bus to transport the passengers to their assigned aircraft.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I was boarding the aircraft the
passenger behind remarked to a Flight Attendant “Oh this is an Air Bus 300, my
favorite plane because I work on them for United Airlines”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I turned and told him that I used to work at
the United Maintenance Center in San Francisco and he told me that he worked
the line at Dulles IAP.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I was assigned a window seat in the rear of the aircraft
with an old lady next to me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lufthansa
has individual entertainment screens on the back of every seat and I watched
the parts of “The Interns” that I had slept through on the previous
flight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After that I watched “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Anne Hall</i>“ but dozed off through parts
of it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I did the same watching “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Criminal Minds</i>”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I tried to read and between falling asleep I
was able finish two magazines that I had started earlier in the week.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The served us a hot meal after takeoff and a
sandwich just before landing in Jeddah.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>During the re-fueling stop at Jeddah I talk with the United
mechanic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He told me he was a
Continental Maintenance Supervisor and was still having a headache integrating
the mechanic from United and Continental.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The crews are not integrated and only ex-Continental mechanics work on
ex-Continental aircraft and the same for the ex-United side.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They still have two separate flight record
systems with the old United computer based and the old Continental paper based
each with different codes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The same old
union mentality that made me happy to leave United back in the early 1980’s
still exists.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The flight from Jeddah to Asmara was just an hour and one
half and they served another sandwich.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
couldn’t even have purchased a sandwich on my hour and one half flight from Los
Angles to San Francisco.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The flight arrived in Asmara and since I was seated in the
back I was one of the first to exit through the aft stairs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An Australian that had been sitting near me
asked me if I was a geologist because I dressed like they did.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I told him my story about traveling the
continent and having difficulty obtaining visa he told me he was working in the
country at one of the countries three gold mines and had difficulty getting his
visa.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The bus soon filled up and I was
pushed back from my spot near the door as it filled and therefore when we
arrived at Immigration I was one of the last to enter.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I was relieved to be greeted by a man in a Doorman’s coat
holding a sign with my name on it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
greeted me and pointed to get in one of the four lines waiting to be processed
by Immigration.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I picked the shortest
line and the United mechanic and gold miner stood with me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our line didn’t move and we switched lines
back and forth and never seemed to find a line that moved.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I learned that the mechanic was a native of
Asmara and returns every 3 or 4 months.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He graduated from an LA Technical Collage in the 1970’s and worked at
McDonald Douglas before joining Continental in Los Angeles, eventually
transferring to Washington DC where it was easier to get flights to Eretria.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Both of my new found friends told me the confusion at the
Immigration windows was normal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They
remarked that it has not improved over the last several years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Eventually I got my passport stamped just
before the Gold Miner received his stamp and just after the mechanic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The three of us stood in the exit line to
have an Immigration officer verify that we received a stamp and then proceed to
another window where the visa was checked again. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Following the second visa stamp check I
reconnected with the Hotel greeter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Baggage was still being unloaded from the plane but we I noticed that it
didn’t appear that the bags that were not claimed didn’t come around on the
carousel a second time I discovered that my bag had been removed and was in a
group along the wall obscured from my original vantage point.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The bag had arrived in good shape and the Hotel greeter grabbed
it and we exited the Arrival building and boarded a mini-bus for the hotel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Check-in at the hotel went smoothly and they
gave me a Wi-Fi internet access code for the room.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Then my troubles began.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I connected my laptop to the Wi-Fi but when I tried to open Outlook or
Facebook or any other app I received a “This page can't be displayed”
message.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I then tried to connect to the
Wi-Fi on my smart phone and I received a message that the User Name account was
being used by another computer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I then
tried to Logout of the laptop connection but could not get the screen to come
up with the logout button.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was in a
catch 22 situation so I returned to the lobby and requested another account so
I could log into my smart phone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They
would not give me one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Only one to a
customer and only one device can be logged in at a time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I returned to my room and tried logging in
again on the laptop and this time I got a logout button.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was then able to login on my smart phone
and found the bandwidth was so weak I couldn’t do anything.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I gave up and unpacked and went to bed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Tuesday, October 15,
2013:</b> City tour of Asmara, Eritrea<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">At 09:30 a driver arrived at the hotel to pick me up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He drove me to the offices of Asmara Grande
Travel & Tour Service where I met the owner, Tekeste Asghedom and Rachel, a
pretty young English teacher who would serve as my guide for the two tours
scheduled during my visit to the country.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Tekeste took my passport to obtain a permit to visit the sea port of
Massawa the next day. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We all left the
office and Rachel started my city tour.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Asmara was built as the capital of the Italian colony of
Eritrea between 1890 and 1940.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It has
clean wide streets lined with palm trees and Italian designed and built
buildings many dating back to the start of the 20<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> century.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>During WWII the Italians were defeated and
the British took control and Eritrea was a administered by Great Britain
between 1942 and 1952.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The British did
not change the Italian feel of the city but in 1952 the UN established Eritrea
as an autonomous region within the Ethiopian federation and the city suffered
defacing and neglect.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The neglect
increased after Ethiopia annexed the region as a province. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In 1962 the Eritrean’s waged war with Ethiopia
for 30 years attempting to gain full independence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Eritreans approved independence in a 1993
referendum.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Isaias Afworki became
President and has served in that position ever since.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">October 15 was a Muslim holiday and many stores closed banks
and government offices including the Museum were closed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The traffic was very light and the sidewalks
had few people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For some unexplained
reason the city is without power every morning starting at 06:30 and ending at
14:30.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The first stop on the city tour was the Asmara main
cathedral built of brick in 1923 in Italian style with a large tower 82 feet
high towering over the central area of the city.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The tower contains eight bells each weighing
220 pounds and large clocks on several sides.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The clock is electrical so it displayed the start of the power outage at
06:26<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The structure and associated buildings take up a whole city
block.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rachel was surprised that the
doors and gates were closed for the holiday depriving us a chance to see the reportedly
beautiful interior of the church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
walked around the church area past the French Embassy housed in an 1800 era
Italian colonial building, a bank in an Italian style brick building, an 1899
built building and on to the Post Office.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The city is very different than other African in the area such as
Khartoum and Djibouti with the clean streets and colonial buildings.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We got back in the car and rode past art deco style
buildings to St. Mary’s Orthodox Church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The church was built in Red brick similar to the Cathedral in 1938 on
top of a hill and can be seen from all parts of the city.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It had a very large open area in front of the
church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It also was closed due to the
holiday so again I wasn’t able to see the interior.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From St. Mary’s we rode around the city
seeing more of the Italian built buildings and then stopped at a cemetery
perched on a hill with panoramic views of the city.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The grave markers had a tin like metal with
the name and dates attached to the stone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We climbed the hill to a church on top and took pictures of the
city.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Several boys followed us
begging.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rachael would run them off but
they kept re-appearing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Finally she had
them line up and she took their picture and that seemed to satisfy them and
they didn’t bother us on the way back down the hill.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">A funeral was taking place in a large open area at the base
of the hill.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a little different
because the funeral attendees separated, male and female each lined up along
the edge of the open area.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was too far
away to see what was happening in the middle but when we left the area I saw a
young man dressed in sacraments carrying a cross.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I guess it was either an Orthodox or a
Catholic funeral.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We then drove to a
Christian church and again the gates were locked.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Having toured the Catholic, Orthodox, and Christian church our
next stop was a little out of the city at the Asmara War Cemetery with graves
of WWII allied soldiers who lost their life in the period of 1939 to 1945.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The vast majority was from Great Britain,
mostly the RAF but I did see markers for Army and other British Commonwealth
and Colonial locations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The cemetery is
very well maintained with a monument up the slope at the back of the cemetery. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It struck me as a little unusual because it
was so well kept in an area where the adjoining property was an unpaved road, a
faded sign for the Zoo and a rundown ticket building for the zoo.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">From the Cemetery we rode back into the city and stopped at
the central market.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because of the
Muslim holiday most of the stalls were not open.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Those that were open displayed the colorful
straw baskets and other woven items, clay bowels, tin utensils, small charcoal,
burners, jewelry, gourds, small musical instruments and paintings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The few stall keepers were laid back and no
one hustled me to buy anything.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I found
the goods typical of Africa.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Back in the car we rode to the monument statue of the
Russian scholar Alexander Pushkin who never lived in Asmara but had ancestors
from Eritrea.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was the only monument I
saw during my city tour.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were
several squares which Rachel told once had statues or art works but they were
destroyed during the wars.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We then drove past the American Embassy and past some more
very beautiful colonial houses and then back to the city where we stopped for
lunch at the Spaghetti and Pizza House next door to the American Bar.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We shared a “Neapolitan” pizza.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was good.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I had my first Asmara beer which also was good.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We walked off lunch by walking to and touring some of the
fine old hotels in the city and finished at the Royal Café where we had one of
their delicious pastries.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Before starting our again we crossed the street to see the
ROMA movie theater.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It only shows movies
on the weekends and reminded me of the theaters in my youth with a large
mezzanine and curved balcony.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It had
the look and feel of a 1940’s theater.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Back in the car we rode to see the Fiat building, an art
deco former gas station built in the shape of an airplane with the wings
serving as the roof over the gas pumps.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Then on to a Catholic Church in the suburbs that was also closed and the
doors locked preventing me to see the interior.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We visited another movie theater.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This one had a movie showing to a full
house.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rachel writes the English sub
titles for Eritrea made movies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She told
me that they love their movies but there are only ten theaters in the
country.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the way back to my hotel we
rode to a vista with a great panoramic view of the city above a white Chinese
built hospital that looked like it was camouflaged with gray plaster covering
many cracks in the walls of the building.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Rachel told me the Chinese have built a number buildings and roads in
the country and have a reputation of poor construction.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our last tour was a group of apartments built
by the Koreans which are considered to be the best built in the city.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I had a chance for a two hour rest in the hotel before
Rachel and Tekeste took me to dinner.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Tekeste recommend the fish special and it was delicious. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had a great conversation about the country
and the tourist attractions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tekeste is
president of the counties tourist association and has traveled to many
countries.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After dinner Tekeste drove me
back to the hotel since he lived in the area of the Korean apartments just up
the road from the hotel.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Wednesday, October
16, 2013:</b> Tour Massawa, Eritrea and the Red Sea<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We started our tour early, leaving the hotel at 07:00.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The car and driver had changed and Rachel was
dressed in a more modest dress.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There
are two routes between Asmara and Massawa.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Tekeste has scheduled us to take the new smooth road to Massawa and
return on the older road.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I sat in from
of the Toyota SUV so I could take pictures easily on the drive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The route took us north of the city and into
the mountains.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The road was very smooth
and void of traffic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The reason for the
lack of vehicles in either direction soon became apparent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After passing through two small villages we
saw only animals on the road: herds of cows, sheep and goats with an occasional
donkey or two we came upon the start of hair pin curves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have seen and ridden numerous winding,
hairpin curve roads in my travels but this seemed to be the extreme.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We stopped about an hour out at a lookout
point.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I could see the switchbacks and
curves but I also saw the road looking like the “Great Wall of China” since it
had stone sides.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">In three hours we reached the port of Massawa.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our first stop was at the Red Sea Resort of
refreshments and a rest break.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had a
cold apple drink while the driver had an espresso coffee.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Our next stop was the Northern Red Sea Regional Museum.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our driver left Rachel and I to tour the
museum and drove off.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When she and I
climbed to the entrance on the second floor we found the door locked.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rachel called some people she knew and
discovered the museum staff had gone to breakfast.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She was able to get the driver to return and
we rode off to see the bombed out buildings from the 30 year war between
Ethiopia and Eritrea.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">From 1952 to 1990, when Eritrea entered into a federation
with Ethiopia, previously landlocked Ethiopia briefly enjoyed the use of Massawa
as the headquarters of the now defunct Ethiopian Navy. Ultimately, Ethiopia
dismantled the federation and forcibly annexed and occupied Eritrea. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This led to the Eritrean War of Independence
(1961–1991). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In February 1990, units of
the Eritrean People's Liberation Front captured Massawa in a surprise attack
from both land and sea. Known as Operation Fenkil, the attack utilized both
infiltrated commandos and speed boats. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
success of this attack cut the major supply line to the Second Ethiopian Army
in Asmara, which then had to be supplied by air. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In response, the then leader of Ethiopia
Mengistu Haile Mariam ordered Massawa bombed from the air, resulting in considerable
damage.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The first building we stopped at was <span class="mw-headline"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">Haile Selassie</span></span>’s
former place by the sea.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After his reign
ended it became a government building and suffered the above mentioned bombing
damage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From this building we rode
around the sea port viewing many more bombed out buildings.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We stopped at the War Memorial Square which displays three
damaged tanks from the liberation war.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We then returned to the museum and found it open.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Northern Red Sea Museum was established
in 2000 during the 10th anniversary of the liberation of Massawa.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It consists of different sections including
Natural History, Archeological, Ethnographic, Colonial Art and Military
sections.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">When I entered the first section was the Natural History
Section.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Red Sea of Eritrea is
endowed with more than 1000 species of fish, around 200 corals and about 800
different kinds of shells.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was a 45
foot long skeleton of a whale, a skeleton of a dugong and other samples of
fishes, corals, shells, and sea turtles. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I then was routed to the Archeological Section. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There they displayed The Northern Red Sea
region as home for the first homo sapience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Artifacts displayed evidence that Buya. Adulis and Dahlak Islands are
also places where remains stretching back to prehistory civilization where
found. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Included in the section were
relics of around 1.2 million years old stone tools, and a large amount of
fossilized bones of extinct animals. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Different archeological findings from Adulis,
ancient Arab calligraphic writings which are artistically engraved at tombs
that include Holly scripts and details of the deceased were displayed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Next was the Ethnographic Section.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There I learned that of the nine ethnic
groups of Eritrea, six are found in the Northern Red Sea region. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The section, displays the household utensils,
ornaments, traditional costumes, house decoration materials, traditional
self-defense tools of all the six ethnic groups inhabiting in the region. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The Colonial Art Section displayed pictures of colonial
buildings with Turkish, Egyptian and Italian architectural styles.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The last section was the Military Section.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It displayed the hardware the EPLF fighters used
to combat and route out the occupation army of Ethiopia. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That part of the museum reflected the
bitterness of the struggle for independence, the resilience and creativity of
the liberation fighters, and the viciousness of enemy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was fascinated with the details on the
thirty year conflict with Ethiopia.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When
I signed the visitors book I was the first to sign since my fellow traveler,
Pam signed it the previous week.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It was after noon when we exited the museum.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We then rode out to the Hamassien Beach
resort.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A very large Resort Hotel stood
uncompleted with a beautiful beach in front of it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We stopped at a small resort next door and
walked to the beach.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was only had
a hand full of bathers and under a canopy a group of elderly overweight
woman.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The resort didn’t serve lunch so
we rode down the coast to the Gurussum Beach Hotel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the way we drove past herds of
camels.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The beach at the Gurussum had a
lot more activity with numerous sun bathers and swimmers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A young couple was riding a camel along the
beach lead by its owner.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(I wonder if takes
care of cleaning up the camel poop.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>When their ride came to an end and the camel was ordered to kneel to let
them get off the young girl let out a scream of surprise as the camel suddenly
kneeled.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After the riders dismounted the
owner tethered the camel by tying a rope around its neck and around one leg so
when we left it was just standing there on three legs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not a comfortable sight.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">After having cool refreshment at the hotel we drove back to
the city to a restaurant for lunch at the Luna Hotel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we walked in the hotel’s cafe I noticed
a man eating a plate of spaghetti.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since
I was in an Italian influenced area I decided to order the same and it was
delicious.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rachel and the driver had a
traditional Ethiopian dish which the shared eating with pieces of the sponge
like Ethiopian bread.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They also ordered
a mixed seafood plate which the three of us shared.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a good meal.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">After lunch we headed back to Asmara on the older road.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We encountered more traffic, numerous trucks
and rougher road surface.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Along the way
we drove by a Russian cargo plane that was being used as a restaurant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We stopped at a memorial for the Italians killed
in 1887.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is on a hill just off the
highway and is very well maintained.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">About an hour out from Massawa we stopped in a small village
to eat a fresh watermelon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The highway
was winding but did not have as many neatly designed switch backs and hairpin
cures as the newer highway we rode on in the morning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At one bend in the road with a steep hill to
our right our SUV was showered with stone falling off the hill around the bend
we saw the cause.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A group of monkeys
were swarming next to and on the road and many were scrambling up the hill
dislodging small stones as the scampered after each other.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">On the return to Asmara they drove me around the former
Kagnew Station a radar and listing station during the cold war.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It took over an Italian Military post in 1943
and housed US military until 1977.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Tekeste took me to dinner alone at the al Sicomoro Bar &
Restaurant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He introduced me to the
owner and chef.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She was Italian and
served a delicious fish dinner.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tekeste
and I had some more frank discussions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
was guarded in his discussions and careful to not to criticize the government,
especially the President.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I did get the
impression that the political situation in Eritrea is very complicated with the
citizens not sure where the government is heading.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the way back to the hotel we stopped at a
night club to see a dance show only to find the show had been cancelled and the
mood of the club subdued because they had lost many friends in the capsizing of
the boat of immigrants near Lampedusa.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Many were from Eritrea.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
following news article sums up the situation: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">International
news headlines over the last couple of days have been partly dominated by the
tragedy of immigrants, mainly from Africa, dying en masse in a desperate bid to
reach Europe.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Just
over a week ago, a ship carrying immigrants from Libya en route to Italy capsized
near the island of Lampedusa, killing at least 350 people. In the days
following that incident, scores of more immigrants have died while hundreds
have been rescued from boats heading to Lampedusa, Malta or Sicily in the
Mediterranean Sea.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The
Maltese prime minister captured the tragedy succinctly when he said the
Mediterranean Sea was becoming a large cemetery for African immigrants. It is a
big shame that Africans have to subject themselves to such extreme dangers in
order to reach Europe, which many believe is the biblical Promised Land.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">It's,
indeed, a statement about how bad their living conditions are at home, that
they must consider such a dangerous option. Apart from countries like Somalia
and Syria, where the security situation has been understandably generating
refugees, there is no reasonable explanation why a country should produce so
many refugees other than mismanagement by such a country's leaders.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">One
of the countries with a large representation at Lampedusa is apparently
Eritrea, whose citizens appear to be in a hurry to leave every time an
opportunity presents itself. Yet this is not about Eritrea, as many Ugandans
would jump at the opportunity to leave as well.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">What
is more straightforward, though, is the direct relationship between bad governance,
poverty and insecurity, and a strong desire to flee one's country no matter the
risks involved. Thus a country's high propensity to generate desperate
immigrants says something negative about its leadership.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The
head of a home whose children are always looking out for the easiest
opportunity to escape is a failed parent. Similarly, the leader of a country
whose citizens would rather die on cold foreign seas than stay at home is a
failed leader.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Unfortunately
Africa has too many of the latter, which is such a shame and a tragedy. Yet the
bigger tragedy is that they won't admit their failures and step aside but they,
rather, hang onto their jobs endlessly.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Thursday, October 17,
2013:</b> Fly Asmara, Eritrea to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia via Cairo, Egypt<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I was scheduled to take the hotel shuttle bus to the airport
with a group of others but one of the men in the group did not check-out on
time so the hotel airport greeter drove me solo to the terminal and assisted
with my check-in.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Check-in was a little bit of a hassle because the check-in
station’s printer ran out of paper.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
was an old dot-matrix printer and the agents had trouble re-loading the
paper.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They moved my passport and ticket
to another station and in the process they didn’t give me back my Star Alliance
Gold Card and didn’t show me my baggage tag.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I was assigned a Business Class seat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I had to pay a $20 Airport Departure fee and then process out at
Immigration and Security.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just as I was
exiting the Immigration station one of the agents ran up to me with my Gold
Card.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since the group from the hotel
didn’t leave with me I was solo through all the processing with no waits at any
station.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was nice to breeze through
like that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While waiting to board the
bus that would take us to the aircraft I crossed checked my paperwork and
discovered that they hadn’t entered my Mileage Plus number and I couldn’t find
the baggage claim.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of the Gate
Agents pulled up my record on his computer and entered the number.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He also showed me that they had affixed the
baggage tag on the back of my e-ticket which was folded so I didn’t see it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I was assigned to row 9 aisle seat but there were no rows 1
through 7 on the A-320-200 so I was very close to the front.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had no one sitting next to me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Egypt Air served a hot breakfast in Business
Class on the two and one half hour flight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>When we arrived in Cairo I was the first passenger off and after a long
walk arrived in the Immigration area and discovered I had to purchase an entry
visa at one of bank counters that lined the back of the arrivals hall.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A flight from Dubai had just arrived so it
took me a little time to pass through Immigration and therefore I arrived at
the baggage carousel just as my bag was coming through the wall.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Customs x-rayed my bags as I exited.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A representative from the Airport Tour agency
was hounding me to schedule a tour with his agency.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He followed me out to the Arrivals Hall.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wanted to learn what the options were to
visit Gaza so I went with him to the Tour Desk.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There I was turned over to the manager.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He told me that his company didn’t have tours along the coast road of
the Sinai but did arrange flights to the sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on the
south tip of the Sinai.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I thanked him
for the information and proceeded out the building to catch the Novotel Hotel
shuttle bus.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">At the hotel I had a problem at check-in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My reservation was for the previous day so I
could immediately get a room when I arrived at 06:30.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The clerk was looking for a reservation
starting the 17<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> instead of the 16<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Once I pointed that out the clerk then had a
problem with who was going to pay for the room.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I told them it was paid by UTS.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They had the UTS American Express card holding the reservation on
file.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I received my room key and went to
the room.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since breakfast was included
and I had eaten on the plane I waited until almost 10:00 to eat so it would
serve as my lunch.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I went down the
desk clerk approached me to tell me they couldn’t use the UTS card to pay for
the room.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I gave them my card, ate a meal
and returned to my room to send an email to UTS.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I spent the day catching up on email and writing in my
journal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I took an afternoon nap and
checked out at 18:30 to take the 19:00 shuttle to the airport with the plan to
use the Star Alliance lounge food for dinner.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I was the only passenger on the shuttle bus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was hounded at the Departure Terminal my
men wanting to assist me checking-in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They were very annoyed when I refused their assistance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know they need to make a buck and with the
lack of tourist visiting Egypt they are in need.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, I needed to carefully budget my cash to
pay for hotels in the countries that don’t honor credit cards or have ATM
terminals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Again the lines were very
short at Immigration and they don’t have a security check right after
Immigration like most airports do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Rather each gate has security checks.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Egypt Air has many Star Alliance lounges located throughout
the airport.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The first one I entered on
the way to my gate told me to use one closer to my gate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I entered the one near my gate I was the
only passenger in the lounge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Their meal
was soup, sliced meat in a bun, hot mixed vegetables, rice and a chicken
stew.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One I picked one of buns the lone
attendant offered to heat it so I put in a slice of cheese.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I was able to connect up and use Wi-Fi to call Judy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>UTS responded that the hotel had the CC for
their American Express card and should have used it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Klaus was going to contact the hotel and get
them to reverse the charge on my card.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">When time came to go to the gate I packed up and stuffed
everything from my pants pockets into my travel vest so I could pass through
security without too much hassle since my knee always sets off the alarm.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the gate there was already a line and
first they took our board pass and then lined up for the security check.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A did my cross check before entering security
and couldn’t find my cell phone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Panic,
I told the agent and he let me leave.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>When I returned to my seat in the lounge it was not there so I dumped
everything from my vest pockets and found it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>By the time I returned to the gate the line was empty and I thought I
would breeze through the security check but they questioned the two small
flashlights in my vest.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I carry one in
my pants pocket on flights and the other is on a lanyard in the travel
vest.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After showing them that each one
worked they let me keep them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">They used an air bridge to the aircraft.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was in the second row of Economy and it was
a full flight with a lot of problems with overhead luggage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Next to me was the most interesting seat
mate; Saleh M.A. Sahboun an Ambassador in the League of Arab States.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He is a Libyan and a career Foreign Service
Officer and knows all the Libyan diplomats.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He had just left Tripoli and thought that things had calmed down and
encouraged me to visit saying the media press have blown the situation out of
proportion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Although a career diplomat
he was not a favorite of Gadhafi and sided with the rebels.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He also is a classic car owner and active in
his countries classic car associations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>When I told him about the MG-TD owner I met that still displays the
Libyan license plates on his MG which he purchase while stationed in Libya he
was fascinated and wants me to see if the guy still owns the car and license
plates and would be willing to sell either or both.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He gave me his business card.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Friday, October 18,
2013:</b> Addis Ababa, Ethiopia<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Since Business Class on my flight was not fully booked and I
was in the second row of Economy class I was one of the first off the plane
when we arrived at the Addis Ababa Airport.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I had to purchase a visa before processing at Immigration.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was surprised that I did not have fill out
an entry card like they had required last year when I flew in and out of Addis
Ababa so many times.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">There was no line at Immigration and I processed quickly and
didn’t have to wait very long for my bag.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Customs x-rayed my bag again and then I exited arrivals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Addis Ababa airport arrivals hall is
lined with small offices for the hotels in the city.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I found the Harmony Hotel office there
was no one there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A young lady called
out the name of the Harmony Greeter thinking he was sleeping under the counter
out of sight but no one appeared.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She
then helped me find a taxi to take me to the hotel for $15.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The taxi driver wanted me to give him an
extra tip but I told him to wait until I was safely at the hotel with all my
bags.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we got to the hotel several
ladies of the night were exiting and wanted a taxi so the driver was happy that
he was picking up a quick fare and didn’t wait for me to give him a tip. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The hotel reservationist could not find my reservation on
her computer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I waited a long time as
they searched file cabinets looking for the reservation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I mentioned that I was also going to stay on
November 8<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> and they found that reservation on another computer and
then my current one on that computer and not on the check-in computer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Weird system!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They couldn’t issue a key on the computer
and told me the bell boy would unlock my room and to return at 08:00 to get my
key.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we arrived at the assigned
room we found that it had not been cleaned so the ball boy called the front
desk and I was assigned the room at the end of the hall.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It turned out to be very large and included a
small kitchen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They had also told me
that Wi-Fi was only available in the lobby but the rooms had Internet
cables.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I connected my cell phone in the
lobby and was surprised to find it worked in my room.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Apparently the large rooms have a modem in
additional to the cable.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Having Wi-Fi was great because I was able to listen to the
last few innings of the Red Sox – Tiger game which put the Red Sox ahead in the
best of seven series with just one more win needed to go to the World Series.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">After the game I went to breakfast, obtained the key to my
room and returned to get some sleep.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
awoke about 13:00, showered and went for a walk.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As I was leaving the hotel one of the staff
was leaving at the same time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He struck
up a conversation and I told him I was looking for some shaving cream.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He lead me to Super Market but they didn’t
have what I was looking for so we crossed the street to a Pharmacy and again
they didn’t have the small aerosol cans of shaving cream I was looking for.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The next building had a row of cell phone
stores so I entered each one to see if I could find a different style carrying
case for my Samsung Galaxy 4 but none of the stores had one.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The hotel worker was still with me and told me it was a
holiday and if I would like to see a native dance at a place he knew a block
away.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I said sure and he led the way to
house full of young girls.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a
massage and brothel and he was very surprised when I left.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That was not the trap I wanted to fall in.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Walking around Addis Ababa I saw a huge contrast between it
and Asmara.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Addis Ababa had a lot of
construction, especially in the hotel area where I was walking.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was dirty and many of the side streets
were full of pot holes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This not the
area I saw much of on my city tours last year when I was fly out of Addis Ababa
to South Sudan, Somaliland and Djibouti.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Back in the hotel I wrote in my journal and had the buffet
dinner at the hotel for $15.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a
very reasonable price but I have not taken a liking to the food and didn’t eat
much.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Saturday, October 19,
2013:</b> Fly Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to Bangui, CAR via Douala, Cameroon<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I had a 09:00 scheduled departure so I ate breakfast at
06:30 and took the hotel shuttle bus to the airport at 07:00.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was flying on Ethiopian Airlines which is a
member of Star Alliance so I was able to use my Gold Star status to check-in at
the Business Class desk, pass through Passport Control in a special line, relax
for a while in the Cloud 9 Lounge and` board the plane with the Business Class
passengers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I had an aisle seat mid plane with two sisters sitting next
to me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I got a lot of reading done on
the four hour flight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The two sisters
were boozing, one on wine the other on beer and they were constantly going to
the rest room.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The flight took a little
over four hours and when we landed at Douala, Cameroon the chaos began.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>First there is no signage in the airport.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were Gate Agents checking the boarding
pass for everyone to make sure that people on the flight who were going on to
the aircraft’s next destination didn’t get off.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Of course several people did and were told to return to the aircraft
causing a bottle neck on the sky bridge with people and their hand luggage
trying to pass in both directions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Next
when I asked for the transfer desk they told me there wasn’t any and that I had
to exit the arrivals hall and enter the departure hall to obtain a boarding
pass.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I started walking the long corridors looking for a sign to
direct me to baggage claim or Immigration.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>When I finally found Immigration I showed them my passport and told them
I was transit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Immigration Agent
handed my passport, entry card and e-ticket to a woman to take it get a
visa.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was protesting and repeating
that I was transit when a young man came up and offered to help.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He retrieved my paper work and led me to
baggage claim.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I told him that my
bag was checked through he led me out side and back in to the check-in
area.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My paperwork was checked and I was
sent to a check-in agent who issued me a boarding pass.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I then had to have my carry-on weighted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The guy doing the weight check was in an
argument with a gentleman whose bag was overweight and I was concerned that
mind would also be but I came in two pounds under weight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then my friendly helper started to hit me up
money wanting $25 for the guy who weighted my carry-on<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and $25 for himself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I gave him $20 for both and went on my way.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">When I got to the assigned gate they directed me to wait at
another gate because the Ethiopian Flight was still loading.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Once they loaded the aircraft they told us to
enter our assigned gate were we had to pass through security and wait for
departure.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was a young lady that
had sat across the aisle from me on the flight from Addis Ababa who was also
transferring in Douala to Bangui.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
struck up a conversation in the waiting room.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>She lives in Egypt working for the Catholic Relief Organization and is
married to an Eritrean.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She experienced
the same scam that I experienced getting her Bangui boarding pass.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She told me that day-to-day life in Egypt was
not as bad as it is described in the media.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>She is also working on relief in Syria which se says is bad.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Eventually they processed us and we had to go down a set of
stairs and cross the ramp to our TAGG (Angola) B-737-700.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was assigned the next to the last row on
the aircraft with no one else sitting next me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The flight was only 1:30 and I was one of the last off the plane.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We were bussed to the terminal and all the
doorways were packed and people were not moving into the middle of the bus to
let the last of us on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I noticed that
there were open doors on the opposite side of the bus so I went around and
found I could easily get in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The irony
was the side I was on was the side facing the terminal when we stopped so I was
the first off.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had to fill out an
Arrival form before going to Immigration.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>My visa was in order so I passed through.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Again this was a terminal with no signs and I wandered up
the wrong hallway looking for baggage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
don’t understand the lack of signs in these airports.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After retrieving my bag I was stopped for a
bag check.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I put the bag on a counter
and started to unlock it when the baggage check lady stopped me and marked my
bag as being processed. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">When I exited the baggage claim hall I ran into chaos again
with no signs and do one authority looking that I could get information on
getting transportation to the hotel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One
man approached me and asked if I needed a taxi.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I told him I was looking for a shuttle bus to the hotel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He replied that I needed to take a taxi.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I said OK where do I queue up for a
taxi?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He told me would show me and the next
thing I new he had loaded my bags in the back seat of a dilapidated taxi.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I asked him what the fare would be and he
quoted a price in the local currency.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
ask what that would be in dollars and just then he had some of his buddies pus
the cab to get started and we roared to life and was exiting the lot I kept
pressing on the price and he wrote $100 on a piece of paper I told him no way
and to return to the terminal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He then
wrote $50 on another piece of paper and I told him $10.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And away we went.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It seemed to be a long drive and he was
pointing out the sights of the city.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>When I question how much longer and the sun was setting he finally said
he would show me my hotel but take me to a much cheaper hotel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I told him no way and we arrived at the
beautiful 5 star hotel with a long entrance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It reminded me of a smaller size of the Kempinski hotel in Djibouti
bathed in white and gold trim.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We entered the security gate a drove up to the entrance
where there were three bell hops I hopped out of the taxi and asked one of the
bellman what was the standard fare from the airport.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was not answering so I suspected he didn’t
understand English so I rushed into the lobby and asked the desk clerk.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His reply was “What is the problem?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I told him I wanted a simple answer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By then the bellman had my bags and the cab
driver had entered the lobby and the manager hearing the commotion
arrived.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I told them the cabbie wanted
to charge $100 and cut it to $50.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An
important looking man that had just checked in started to chew out the cabbie
and the cabbie was yelling and everyone else was yelling and I was say I just
wanted to pay him just compensation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
told them he had taken me on a city tour fore which I replied that I hadn’t
asked for it and would only pay the normal fare between the hotel and the
airport.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">He was still upset and then I heard that they were going to
report him to the police and he left the lobby with hotel security while I
continued to check in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A short time
later the manager returned and told me $20 would be fair and the matter was
settled.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">After settling in my room which is in a row of rooms
entering out to one of the largest pools I have seen I returned to the main
building for dinner.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The dining room was
serving a buffet for $35 and I didn’t like the choices so I went to the bar
where I ordered a cheeseburger and a beer and even that cost $25 including tip
but it was a huge cheeseburger and I only ate half and had the rest boxed up
for the next night.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I set my alarm for 01:00 to wake up to listen to the Red Sox
– Tigers playoff game and went to bed at 21:00.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Sunday, October 20,
2013:</b> Bangui, Central African Republic<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">At 01:00 my alarm woke me and I turned on the TV to see if
they were broadcasting the game on any channel but no luck so I tuned in WEEI
on my cell phone and listened to the game which ended at 05:00 with the Red Sox
winning the American League Pennant and will play St. Louis in the World
Series.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was able to finish the Eritrea
Tour blog and emailed it out to my travel friends.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The hotel found an English speaking tour guide named Michael
and I met with him to discuss options for a tour that day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I trip to a Pygmy village would take all day
and be very expensive since I don’t have anyone to share the cost of the car,
driver and guide.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Another option was to
visit the water falls which would take less time but still cost almost as much
since the three costs are for the day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A
third option is for a taxi on an hourly rate to tour the city which I had
already done without my asking for it on the ride from the airport the night
before.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I was going to go with the third option when the wind
started to blow very hard.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Michael told
me that it appeared a big storm was forecast.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I decided that it was not worth it to drive around the area in a rain
storm and we concluded our discussion with his taking me to the airport in the
morning and providing a mini tour on the way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>His English was very easy to understand so we agreed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Shortly after he left the sky opened up and
really poured rain for several hours.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">In the evening I took the half eaten cheeseburger from the
room refrigerator to the bar and had them heat it up and ordered a beer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was still delicious except the French
fries were a little soggy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I really
enjoyed drinking the “33” Beer and a dish of peanuts which is what was served
as the local beer in Viet Nam during my tour.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I used to practice using chop sticks by drinking beer and picking up one
peanut at a time while getting drunk waiting for a rain storm to stop so I
could return to the base in an open motorized rickshaw. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since the passenger sat in front it was not a
fun experience to ride in the rain.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Since I had only a few hours’ sleep the night before, I
turned in early.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Monday, October 21,
2013:</b> Fly to Douala, Cameroon<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I awoke at 05:00 and Michael knocked on my door at 06:00 to
take me to the airport for an 08:10 departure.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>When I checked out there was a VIP checking out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It looked right out of a movie setting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was standing at the top of the stairs talking
on a cell in this ornate hotel lobby with a group of men in black sort of lined
up on both sides and a row of new black cars at the bottom of the stairs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Michael called his driver and we piled in
this older taxi.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wish I had been able
to get an aerial shot of the scene.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Michael was able to provide commentary on the monuments,
buildings and sights on the way to the airport.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We had a long wait to get through the airport vehicle check point manned
by heavily armed French troops.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Once
inside the airport it was chaotic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There
were a number of check-in counters but no signs as to which airline of flight
to use.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We were in one line for a few
minutes when Michael was able to find an agent with the airline (ASKY) I was
scheduled to fly on and she directed us to another counter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The queues were not orderly and getting the
bag to the scale for a tag and then leaving the counter involved a lot of
bumping of people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Michael left and I
headed for what appeared to be the Departure door and was told at the door I
needed to pay a Departure Tax and to stand in another line.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I paid $25 and returned to the door where my
paperwork was checked and I stood until the line at the security x-ray machine
subsided.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Security had me remove my
laptop but I kept my shoes on and didn’t set off an alarm when I walked through
the magnetometer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even though they
x-rayed my carry on I still had to have a visual bag check which I passed and
the agent asked for money.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I pretended
that I didn’t understand and departed for the waiting room.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We were bussed to our aircraft, a DHC Dash 8 commuter
airline.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was assigned an aisle seat
but my seatmate sort of indicated he wanted to sit there so I took the window
seat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They served a breakfast consisting
of a long roll, two small buns with meat and a small dish of fruit on the 2
hour flight.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">When we landed at Douala we had to walk across the ramp and
climb the same stairs I had used to board the flight to Bangui two days
earlier.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know knew where to go I
thought since I had just been there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This was an airport with no signs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I had to fill out an Arrival form and then presented my passport to a
woman in a booth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She asked me if I was
transit and I told her I was leaving in the morning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She handed back my passport and told me to
wait for a policeman that would get me a Transit Visa.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A small crowd waited for a while and then
someone complained and soon a Policeman arrived.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He told us we had to get a Xerox copy of our
ongoing e-ticket.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fortunately I had an
extra copy of my ticket but I had to wait while the others came back from where
ever the copy machine was located before he would release us to get our luggage
and then proceed to the Police Station.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That required exiting the building and then entering the Check-in hall
and the Departure hall.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Along the way a
man in a uniform started to guide us past the check points and finally I
arrived at the Police Office and the Policeman with my paperwork arrived from
another direction.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was told to wait
with a couple from Doctors Without Borders.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They were based in Amsterdam and were departing on the evening flight to
Paris.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Once we were issued our free transit visa we headed for the
taxi stand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The couple asked men where I
was staying since they wanted to rest up before their evening flight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This time I was smarter about getting a taxi
and only would talk to men in a bright vest with airport taxi lettered on it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I was dropped at my hotel ibis near the center of the city
and as I was waiting to register the doctors arrived and decided the price was
right to stay at the same hotel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
ibis hotels are not the top of the line in the Accor chain of hotels which
includes the Novotel hotels which are a grade up from the ibis.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For a layover the room was all right and the
Wi-Fi strong.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">After unpacking I setup my laptop and “Googled” the city to
see what sights were recommended.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
only one I found was the cathedral.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
went to for a walk and found the city to be crowded, busy, dirty without decent
sidewalks and not a pleasant city to walk around.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I did see the cathedral which was large but
other than the part area it was not a city to visit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had been here on a cruise in 2006 but took
a tour to the country side for the day and didn’t spent any time in the city.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I was able to have a nice clear phone call over Vonage with
Judy, wrote in my journal and retired by 22:00.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Tuesday, October 22,
2013:</b> Fly to Bata, Equatorial Guinea via Malabo, Equatorial Guinea<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I got a good night’s sleep because my flight to Malabo,
Equatorial Guinea was not scheduled until 12:30.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I went to breakfast I discovered that it
had rained very heavy and was still lightly raining.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Before breakfast I checked with the man at
the front desk to see if they had found that UTS had indeed pre-paid for my
room.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He replied that it had been taken
care of.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After breakfast the front desk
was staffed with a woman who I asked to call Ethiopian Airlines to check the
status of my flight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She refused
claiming she did not have their phone number and suggested that I walk to their
office several blocks away and ask them myself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I have never had a hotel desk clerk respond that way.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I returned to my room to access the Ethiopian Airline web
site and get the number of the local office.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>When I found the number I saw that they didn’t open until 08:30 and it
was then 08:00.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I checked their flight
status page and at first it said there was no status and it was past the
departure time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After a few minutes the
status changed and the flight had departed five minutes late and was due to
land in Douala at 11:35.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">At 09:30 I checked out of the hotel and was told by a female
desk agent that I owed fee.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was
confused and protested.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She produced a
copy of an email that clearly listed a visa card with the last 4 that were not
mine and the name Billep.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I asked her “what
was the problem?” and she said she needed authorization from Paris to charge
the room to that card and the manager in Paris had stepped out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She had a copy of my credit card and I gave
her my email address even though she already had it since I am a member of their
Affinity Club and they have my profile on file.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>She would email me if they had to use my card.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The ibis hotel has a free shuttle bus to and from the
airport.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wish I had searched it out
when I arrived but anyway they drove me to the airport.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Check in went smooth because I could use
their Star Alliance Gold counter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After
I received my boarding pass and luggage tag I had to wind through the terminal
with its minimal signage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They could use
the help of an outside consultant to reorganize the flows and paths that
passengers need to follow in their airport.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>When you do get to the right room and kiosk they check and double check
your passport and boarding pass.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is
the check that any old person doesn’t wander into areas where they should not
be.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I knew where my departure gate was located and was one of
the first to arrive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even though my
carry on was x-rayed they performed a manual search of the bag.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Again they could use an efficiency expert to
review the whole passenger experience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In the waiting area I was able to get a lot of reading done before they
loaded the plane.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Star Alliance Gold
members should have a Green sticker on their boarding pass but I had a yellow
and had to show the agent my card to get processed ahead of the mob.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The flight from Douala to Malabo was scheduled to depart at
12:30 and took only thirty minutes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
boarded a little late and pushed back from the gate at 13:00.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We were in the middle of the safety video
when the power went dead.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The aircraft
suffered some sort of electrical failure.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>After a few minutes the pilot came over the speaker requesting the
technician report to the cockpit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
guess they travel with mechanics on their flights around Africa.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know we did in the military when we flew
out of the country.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We were pulled back to the gate and the doors opened to let
in fresh air.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It took an hour to fix and
test whatever was wrong.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was an hour
and forty minutes late arriving in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea and missed my
scheduled connection to Bata, Equatorial Guinea.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In addition I had to purchase the ticket in
Malabo since Cronos Airlines does not sell tickets over the internet or through
the travel agents ticking services.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">No visa was required to enter the country but we did have to
have our passport checked, picture taken and finger prints recorded when we
arrived.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That process took the time it
took to deliver my bag to the carousel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Great timing, I started to rush out of baggage claim when I was stopped
and had to have my bags physically searched.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Next I exited the Arrival Hall and was hounded by taxi drivers and I
needed to find the Departure Hall to purchase my flight to Bata and back.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I did enter the hall there was no sign
for Cronos Airlines and it took asking several people before someone led me
through a back hall to a row of airline offices and the one with a crowd was the
Cronos office.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I looked anxious and was
perspiring in the heat when a woman asked me my situation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I told her I was trying to purchase a
ticket on the 16:00 flight to Bata she told me it was too late but there was a
19:00 flight and I had plenty of time to purchase my ticket for that
flight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When my turn came up and with a
little bit of translation and my writing out what I wanted the agent told me it
would be 85,000 XAF round trip but he could only take Central African Francs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I asked where I could exchange money and he
pointed to a woman in the room who exchanged my $200 for XAF, paid my fare and
gave me 10,000 XAF in change.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">With ticket in hand I returned to the check-in lobby and
looked for a sign indicating Cronos Airlines.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Of course there wasn’t one but I did see one of the people that had
bought a ticket ahead of me standing at a counter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I got in that line just in time as 50 Chinese
or Koreans arrived to check in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I
loaded my bag on the scale I was handed a bill for 1,000 XAF ($2) which I had
to pay back in the office where I had purchased the ticket.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I rushed back, paid the agent with a 5,000
note, he stamped my bill and gave me change and I rushed back to retrieve my
passport, boarding pass and return tick.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The check-in counters were jammed with the Oriental’s and their luggage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I ducked under a barrier to buck the line to
retrieve my paperwork with a guard after me telling me I had to stand at the end
of the line of Orientals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The check-in
agent saved me by passing me my paper work and I ducked back under the barrier
and was on my way to get processed again at passport control and security.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The boarding pass was a little confusing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I could see from the waiting room that our
aircraft was an Airbus 310 or 320 but my seat assignment read 22K.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Narrow body aircraft generally use ABC DEF
seat assignments.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To have a “K” seat would
be unusual lettering.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we boarded
and I started down the aisle I asked a flight attendant where K seats were and
she laughed and told me it was open seating.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I sat down in 10C but when the Orientals came on board they wanted to sit
in their assigned seats and one of them had 10C so I moved back to row 22 and
sat on the aisle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We boarded in daylight
but the sun quickly set and we took off in the dark for a thirty minute flight
to Bata.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">At the airport in Bata same country as Malabo we had to go
through the same processing: passport check, finger prints and photo.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Although the lines to process were long the
arrival of the luggage took even longer – one hour after we landed the first
bags were delivered to the carousel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Yes, it took twice the time that it took to fly there.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I took a taxi to the hotel for 5,000 XAF ($10).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The roads were relatively smooth but had a
lot of speed bumps.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were street
lights and sidewalks but most of the way there were high walls on each side of
the road and in some area the streets were full of water up to the hub
caps.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The center of the city was
colorfully lit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The main sight was the 223
foot high Freedom Tower, the new symbol of Bata.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was built along with a new stadium for the
Cup of African Nations 2012 which part of was held in Equatorial Guinea.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From a distance it forms the shape of two
letter “A”s at right angles.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is
constructed of four triangles holding up the tower which had the counties coat
of arms displayed on the square tower below a spire.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just below the joining of the four triangles
is a circular restaurant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The shape of
the Freedom Tower is similar to the restaurant in the center of Los Angeles
International Airport.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Each triangle was
brightly lit and with the golden glow from the restaurant it was an impressive
sight to see.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">A beautiful promenade rings the ocean front. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My hotel was another ibis located along the
promenade.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Bata ibis was newer, the
room layout similar but the bathroom was smaller than the Douala ibis.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It had good free Wi-Fi in the room and the
lobby.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I had a late meal and was not able to pay with a credit
card.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They could not process the swipe
style of US credit cards at the bar.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They could only process the European style chip imbedded cards.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Wednesday, October
23, 2013:</b> Tour Bata, Equatorial Guinea and fly to Malabo, Equatorial Guinea<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It was a beautiful sunny day for a tour of Bata.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After breakfast I tried to arrange for an
English speaking guide but the hotel could not find one so I took off walking.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">A little background on the country:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Equatorial
Guinea gained independence in 1968 after 190 years of Spanish rule. President
Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo has ruled the country since 1979 when he seized
power in a coup. The previous government led by Macías Nguema led a
near-genocide of the country's Bubi minority, and tried to replace them with his
own Fang tribe.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The
president exerts almost total control over the political system and has
discouraged political opposition. Equatorial Guinea has experienced rapid
economic growth due to the discovery of large offshore oil reserves, and in the
last decade has become Sub-Saharan Africa's third largest oil exporter. Despite
the country's economic windfall from oil production resulting in a massive
increase in government revenue in recent years, improvements in the
population's living standards have been slow to develop.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It appears that the country is spending money on
infrastructure.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As I walked along the promenade
I saw a lot of construction, improvements of the road and the promenade which
is one of the most impressive promenades I have ever seen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What I found interesting is that Google maps
does not display the promenade in map or satellite mode so I couldn’t accurately
track my walk on my smart phone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It took
me a half hour to reach the tower and I was disappointed that the four
entrances were chained closed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Across
from the tower were three identical building on an arc facing the tower and the
sea beyond the tower.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were occupied
by the police, the post office and the department of education.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I entered each building trying to find
someone who spoke English.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It wasn’t
until I was exiting the Department of Education that I found someone that could
tell me that the tower opens after 14:00.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That killed my plan to have lunch at the tower since I had to check out
of the hotel at 14:00.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">My next quest was to exchange money.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I walked a different route back to the hotel
and stopped at several banks and a super market with no luck.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The city is beautiful with pristine white
sandy beaches just out of town but it is not set up for tourists.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">At the super market I was able to converse with the manager
who was Indian.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He confirmed my
observation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">When I reached the hotel after my walk I was soaking wet and
it felt good to sit in the air conditioned dining room and have a cold beer and
a Nicoise Salad for lunch.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After lunch I
returned to my room, put on a dry shirt and packed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">When I checked out they were able to process my swipe credit
card but they charged me extra for late checkout even though they had told me
that as an Accor Hotels Club member I had until 14:00 to check out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was then a little learning experience
as two desk agents and the supervisor looked for, found and followed the check
list on how to reverse a charge on their hand held machine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Eventually they got the bill correct.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I then had several hours to kill before leaving for the
airport for at 19:00 flight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was a
table in an area off the lobby with a row of power outlets where I was able to
setup my laptop and charge my smart phone.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I had the hotel call a cab at 17:00.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was a gate to the highway in front of
the hotel and parking lots at either end.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The north lot was where I was dropped off by the taxi when I arrived but
it can’t be seen from the lobby.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I asked
them if I should wait in the lot and the desk agents told me to wait in the
lobby and the cab driver would come in and get me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By 17:30 the driver had not arrived so I
asked the desk agent to check.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She
called and found that the taxi had been sitting in the lot wait for me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What a bunch!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The “taxi” had no taxi sign and was backed up to the luggage
ramp.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I member of the hotel staff opened
the truck of the car and we put my bags in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The driver never got out of the car.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The only words he uttered were “aeropuerto”?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I replied “yes”, and away we went plodding
along with cars whizzing by us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even at
his slow pace it didn’t take long to reach the airport.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He didn’t get out of the car, I opened the
trunk, retrieved my bags, reached in and gave him a $10 and wheeled my bags
into the terminal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Check in was simple
and they didn’t charge a fee for my bag being 1 kilo over weight like that had
at Malabo.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">With ticket in hand the next stop was the Border Police
booths for document check.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Three agents
were working and I lined up on the left side.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>When the woman in front of me finally reached the window the agent
informed her he was going on break.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
slid over to my right at the end of that line and let the lady get in front of
me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then something happened on the line
to my right and the no one step forward when the agent was free to take the
paperwork so I slid over there and was quickly processed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">There was no bag check but I was given a quick pat down
before entering the gate area.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The room was
pretty full as departure time approach but when the agents opened the door to
process passengers I was one of the first to notice and one of the first to be
processed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I walked across the ramp to
the same aircraft that I had flown in on the night before and when I entered
the plane the flight attendants recognized me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We chatted briefly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were
contractors from all over Europe.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The tall
one was from Estonia and she told me to sit in row 3.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The first three rows were blocked off.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was open seating and as others arrived
the flight attendant would not let them sit on my side of the aisle in the
other row three seats until a businessman arrived.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She directed him to sit in my row.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The last people on board were a man with a
young man that was mentally and physically impaired.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were seated in row two.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The attendants handed out bottles of water and gave me a
couple of extras which came in handy since not all hotels provide free bottled
water in their rooms and the small bottles they were handing out fit in my
luggage very nicely.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">On arrival in Malabo I was one of the first off after the
man and boy who then waited for a wheel chair at the sky bridge doorway.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I breezed through Border Police and obtained
a cart before the locals grabbed them all to assist passengers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It took a while for my bag to get on the
carousel but there was no bag check leaving the baggage claim.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Outside I was mobbed by taxi drivers and I
selected one that spoke a little English.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It turned out he was parked close but didn’t have a Taxi sign.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We loaded the bags in the truck and off we
went.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was in a hurry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The roads were smooth and well lit and soon
we entered a six lane divided highway lined with Oil Company and Contractor new
high rise buildings on both sides of the highway.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The lights were even closer together than the
airport road.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The ibis Hotel was new and similar in design to the Bata
ibis.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My room was almost identical with
the only difference being the location of the safe and a shelf in the shower
stall.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was after 21:00 and the World
Series game was scheduled to start at 00:30 so I had a quick meal of a tuna baguette
and retired to wake at 00:30.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I was glad that I went through the trouble to visit
Bata.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I consider it a hidden gem and
highly recommend for a visit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I
googled it I read reports that it was difficult to visit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I found that no visa was required and that
foreign travelers process to be straight forward: ID check, finger print
(digitally) and a picture recorded.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Thursday, October 24,
2013:</b> Tour Malabo, Equatorial Guinea<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I awoke at 00:30 and discovered that the sports channel was
carrying a soccer match – no World Series on TV in this country.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I tuned into WEEI to listen to the game on my
smart phone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Wi-Fi was “Fair” (two
to three bars) in the room and the connections keep dropping.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I missed the bottom half of the first inning and
the connection returned in the bottom half of the second inning when Beltran
robbed Ortiz of a grand slam home run.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The station would come and go and I missed the end of the game and fell
back to sleep.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I awoke at 08:00 I
was able to get a connection and learned that the Cardinals finally did score
in the ninth but it was an overwhelming victory for the Red Sox.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Someday I hope to see a replay of the first
two inning scoring.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I had breakfast and the internet was faster in the
lobby.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Robin sent out a message revising
her travel schedule and inviting us to spend Thanksgiving in Montclair.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was able to check flights schedules in the
lobby and forward the information to Judy for her desires on date and time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It rained in the morning when I wanted to tour the island but
afternoon it stopped and didn’t look too threatening.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I asked the Desk Agent if she could set up a
tour with an English speaking driver.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She
didn’t understand and got Suzann an English speaking Manager from the back
office to assist.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Suzann told me she had
someone they use on a regular basis and she would call him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was then after 13:00 so I ordered a
sandwich and a coke.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The waitress didn’t
seem to fully understand my order.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Twice
she came back to confirm after delivering the coke.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then the Suzann came over and confirmed my
order.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She was relaying the order to the
cooks when the Desk Agent informed me the tour guide had arrived.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I told the Suzann to stop the order and
charge the coke to my room.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She
understood and was happy the tour guide had responded to her request.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I carried the coke to my room and gathered my
day pack bag, threw in my raincoat and returned for my tour.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The drive/guide was named Carlos and I easily understood
him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To understand what I was about to
tour I had read the following description of the city:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Malabo
is located just off the mainland on Bioko Island. It's an oil town these days,
with some high end, expensive hotels and lots of oil platforms dotted around
the harbor. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because of the oil industry,
Malabo is a fairly cosmopolitan city and there are plenty of restaurants and
bars to enjoy especially along the main street in town, Ave de la
Independencia.</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">What Carlos explained to me was there was a massive buildup
in infrastructure for the January 2012 Africa Cup of Nations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The change has not been reflected in
descriptions of the country and the cities in the tourist guides.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What I found is vastly different than the
description I had read before coming to the country.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Our first stop was to visit a Super Market where I needed to
purchase a can of shaving cream and Carlos needed to visit the W.C.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The market was void of customers but had
plenty of goods on the shelves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Carlos
explained that it was lunch time and the people would be eating at home and the
shops would not be busy until after 14:00.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We then drove to an area under construction where a massive promenade
was being constructed that would ring the bay.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>When finished it would be wider and possible more beautiful than the
promenade in Bata.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Carlos explained that
this is typical of how the government is spending the oil revenues.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We walked around this area and I was
impressed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Next we rode the six lane toll road (fee not collected) out
to Sipopo, a luxurious area with a gated community of huge homes; a Beach Club
with kayaks and speed boats moored off a beautiful beach, waiting for the week
or better weather; the Parliament building; a golf course and a Sofitel
Hotel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was very little traffic,
people or activity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the way back to
the city I caught Carlos closing his eyes and had to nudge the steering wheel
to steer the car back to the center of the lane.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He quickly apologized and mentioned how quiet
it was out in this new area.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As we got
closer to the city we passed rows of new apartment buildings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Those still under construction were being
built by China Dalian.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We approached the city from the east and initially we were
in the old section and poorest section of the city.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It still was not as poor looking as other
African cities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The streets were void of
pot holes and were clean.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We saw trash
being collected and it supported our observations in Africa that the Christian
countries are cleaner than the Muslim countries.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I relayed that theory to Carlos, he agreed
and told me that he was religious, opened the glove box and showed me the Bible
he reads every day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The old city section
had a number of buildings built by the Spanish.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The electrical wiring strung on poles to the various rooms in the
buildings was an unbelievable sight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
don’t remember seeing such a mess since the back streets in Beijing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We rode closer to the Presidential compound and the
buildings were still last century Spanish built but a little neater.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The President’s Palace was impressive in an
area not far from the Cathedral of Santa Teresa, a massive structure with twin
steeples in gothic style architecture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We did turn down one street where the houses were built in the Spanish
style.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Soon we came upon the back side
of the hotel and the tour was over.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It was totally not what I expected after reading reviews of
the city.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The reviews are years out of
date as is Google maps.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The country has
changed dramatically in the last few years spurred on by co-hosting the African
Cup of Nations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am glad I finally got
to visit it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I received the date and times from Judy and made the
reservations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It extends my trip another
6 days to a total of 43 days before I can fully unpack and read my snail mail.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Since there was another World Series game tonight I ate
early.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Suzann asked about my tour.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She recently transferred from the Douala ibis
to Malabo ibis and she learned to speak English in Cameroon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She was very helpful in sorting out my orders
and bills.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>French and Spanish are taught
in the schools so to find someone that is fluent in English it is usually
someone from another country or who was schooled in another country.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most of the hotel guests were speaking
English around the hotel but few of the wait staff had a clue.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I turned in early so as to get up to listen to the World
Series at 00:30.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Friday, October 25,
2013:</b> Fly Malabo, Equatorial Guinea to Sao Tome, Sao Tome via Libreville<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>, Gabon<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I awoke at 00:30 to listen to the World Series game but I
could not establish a reliable internet connection until the second inning and
I listen until after the Cardinals scored and then the Wi-Fi dropped the
feed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I dozed off and when I awoke again
I moved my smart phone around the room and was able to connect and hear the
last two innings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Disappointed that the
Red Sox had lost I went back to sleep until 06:00 when I awoke for good,
showered, packed, had breakfast and checked out at 08:00.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Carlos arrived to drive me to the airport.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He guided me through check-in which was not
straight forward because I was flying on Ceiba International out of a different
departure terminal and there was no signs pointing the way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I bid him farewell and proceeded to have my
documents checked.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was a security
station but it was not manned.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Ceiba
aircraft arrived it was an ATF-42/72 turboprop.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>As the passengers started to leave the aircraft it started to rain and
it rained while they unloaded the luggage when they loaded our luggage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I saw my bag loaded in the rain.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">While we waited in a gate area there was a TV on the wall
and if you can believe this it showed for five minutes a man using a power weed
whacker cutting grass along the side a road.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I couldn’t believe it so I started to time it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They didn’t even stop the tape for a
commercial break.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">By the time it came for us to walk out and board the
aircraft the rain become a drizzle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
stairs on an ATF are in the rear and I was in the second group to arrive at the
aircraft and was held in the drizzle while the first group cleared the
stairs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I took a seat in the fourth row
from the rear and as others behind me boarded and wanted to sit next to me the
flight attendant made them move toward the front of the aircraft.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unless you were a couple they want to
distribute the weight and have just one passenger in each pair of seats.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">My ticket showed a two hour flight but Sao Tome was in a
different time zone so I figured it was really a one hour flight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The served a sandwich and drink and landed in
one hour.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I got off and walked to the
terminal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They checked our Yellow Fever
cards and then our passports.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I showed
them my Sao Tome visa which was a print of an email that Klaus sent me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The policeman appeared confused and asked me
to wait while he checked the other passengers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He then motioned for me to follow him and he gave my paperwork to a
Passport Control Agent and asked me to get my luggage and return.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A few minutes later he asked me in broken
language if I was going to Sao Tome.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
said yes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He retrieved my paperwork and
led me to a line that was waiting to board the aircraft I had just left.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I asked a lady in line if she spoke English and she said
yes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I then asked her what the policeman
was saying to me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She told me that I was
in Libreville, Gabon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The plane was then
flying on to Sao Tome.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was really
embarrassed since I usual check for in route stops on flights but this was a
last minute ticket that Klaus had delivered to the house the afternoon before I
left on the trip and I had not verified the details of the flight.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The lady that spoke English sat across the aisle from me and
I was able to get additional details on the flight from her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a short flight from Libreville to Sao
Tome so they didn’t serve anything.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
was in the first group to exit the plane and walk across the ramp to a new
terminal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was not setup for arrivals
very efficiently.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We walked up steps in
to a large room with rope tape forcing us to zigzag to the end of the room to a
narrow passageway between two offices with windows that faced the luggage
carousel instead of the arriving passengers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>A lady in a white smock was checking Yellow Fever cards and directing us
to the Passport Control window.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When it
came to my turn the agent checked my visa, asked where I was staying and what
company I worked for and then put my paperwork aside and told me to wait.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The lady who spoke English was next and she
told me she would find out why he put my paperwork aside.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Before she asked about my paperwork he set
her paperwork on top of mine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She told
me that it because we had to pay for the visa.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We had to wait until everyone had been processed then with
our luggage (mine was damp from the rain) follow the agent to another office
where they affixed a stamp in my passport and collected $30 and I was on my
way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As I left the office and headed to
the exit a man came in the exit and called my name.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was from the Travel Agency and was there
to take me to the hotel and will pick me up in the morning.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The Hotel Miramar is a dated Grand Hotel with a large lobby,
no elevators, a large pool with an island in the middle and water falls from
rock formations and is a cross the road from a promenade.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wi-Fi is only strong in the lobby.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My room had twin beds with mosquito netting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was a plaque in the lobby dating the
remodeling of the hotel in the 1990s but it appears to look older.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I took a walk around the area.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Their promenade is not as nice as the ones in
Equatorial Guinea.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Below the wall were
boulders and very little beach.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There
was a point where stairs led down to the water.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>At one end of the stairs were boulders and at the other end a pile of
small rocks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Beyond the stones was a
short nice sandy beach but one of the men hanging around told me it was not
safe to swim at that beach and thus the reason for the pile of stones.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">After my walk I returned to my room and unpacked and washed
my underwear, changed into my swim suit and went for a swim in the hotel’s very
large swimming pool.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At one point I
stood under the artificial water fall which gave me a good massage of my neck
shoulders and back.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">After the swim I visited the hotel bar and had a cold beer
(Portuguese brand Superbock) and a plate of peanuts while I checked my emails
on my smart phone. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Wi-Fi in the
lobby was the best bandwidth I had encountered on the trip.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was able to talk to Judy on Vonage as clear
as if I was in the States.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Back in my room I set up my laptop and wrote in my
journal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I caught up in the journal
I took the laptop down to the lobby to connect to the internet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was having some problem syncing my Dropbox
files from the smart phone to Dropbox to my laptop.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dropbox is confused with the date/time
stamps.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wasn’t able to resolve it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">At 19:00 I went to the dining room.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were advertising a big set four course
meal and I didn’t want to eat that much so I had a ham and cheese sandwich and
a beer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After my meal I retired to my
room.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since I had been awake most of the
night trying to listen to the Red Sox World Series game I was tired and went to
bed early.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Saturday, October 26,
2013:</b> Fly Sao Tome, Sao Tome to Principe, Sao Tome<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">For some reason I woke at 05:00 and decided to call Judy
before she went to bed to find out if there had been any problems with our pool
guy installing a new motor for the pool pump.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I had a strong clear connection over Vonage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She reported that there had been some
additional broken parts but everything eventually was installed and
working.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After the call I noticed that
the dining room was open for breakfast so I ate before returning to my room to
shower, shave and pack.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I checked out at 08:00 and the Tour Company driver arrived
shortly thereafter to drive me to the airport.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>When we arrived at the airport check-in counter it was a mob scene.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A group of a dozen women from Portugal were
being checked in by their Tour Leader and it seemed to be taking a very long
time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My driver informed me the airline
had a strict 15 kilo weight limit on checked bags.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He suggested I try to lighten my bag and he
would hold it for my return.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had
foldup bag from UTS in a side pocket and I filled it with three packets and my
checked bag then weighted 14.5 kilos.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Finally my turn came to check-in and it went fast.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I received a manual boarding card and had to
stand on the scale to have them record my weight holding my carry-on bag.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was then directed to a room where a
Policeman performed a visual check of my carry on and on to the waiting room.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From the window I could see that we were
going to fly in a high wing twin turbo prop aircraft.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The kind of aircraft where they load the
luggage in the nose in addition to the rear.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">A Boeing 767 was parked with its tail facing the
terminal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was a blast fence
between the terminal window and the plane but when the 767 fired up it engines
and taxied out it shook the building.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>As I wrote yesterday the new terminal at Sao Tome was not very
efficiently designed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">When time came to board the aircraft we walked across the
ramp.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I handed my carry on to a baggage
handler and saw it packed in the aft compartment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I sat in row 6 on the right side.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It appeared that the aircraft a Dornier 228
held about 18 passengers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We took off at
09:10 and landed in Principe about forty minutes later.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I exited the aircraft I waited for them
to unload my carry on and walked across the ramp to a small terminal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My checked bag was one of the first to arrive
and I started out the door and was greeted by a man wearing a shirt with Bom
Bom Island Resort on it and he called out my name.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He asked me if I was with a group or
alone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I told him I was alone he
asked me to go to the end of the side walk and wait while he met the group.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Eventually everyone collected their luggage
and it was loaded into a small bus and an SUV.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I was directed to seat in the front seat of the SUV with a couple in the
back seat and the tour group loaded in the bus.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Off we rode on a dirt but rather smooth washboard road
through the jungle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It showered a little
bit on and off during our ride.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
passed houses thrown together with plywood sides and corrugated metal
roofs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No concrete poured or cinder
block houses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The road was winding and I
saw just a few crops and cleared areas, mostly jungle and a few shacks.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">When we arrived at the Bom Bom Island Resort I saw dark red
painted cottages with round cone shape roofs situated among the trees.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The reception center was larger but built in
the same style.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We crowded in and we
each were handed an ice cold rolled up wet towel and then a coconut with a
straw welcoming drink.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the counter
were a registration paper with our name and room number typed on it, a key with
a whistle and flashlight attached and a small card to fill in our passport
number, address and other information.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
was assigned room two.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The manager gave
us a briefing on the layout and the time for meals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She told us they had Wi-Fi in the area but
not in the rooms.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some cottage can
receive it on their porch.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The pool was
closed for remodeling but there were two excellent swimming beaches. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One beach had good snorkeling.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I was led to my cottage which was right on the edge of the
snorkeling beach.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was also the boat
ramp which was a set of railroad tracks that lead into the water but was mostly
covered with sand up to the grass line.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I dumped my luggage and took off exploring.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I discovered that I had very weak Wi-Fi in
the general area around my cottage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even
the reception area did not have strong Wi-Fi.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Some of the cottages are on the side of a hill and look like they were
tree houses. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The pool was ringed with a fence
of palm leaves so it wasn’t even visible walking by.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The bar and restaurant were on another island
(the actual Bom Bom island) connected by a long walkway bridge over the
water.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At 11:30 I walked out there to
see if the Wi-Fi was any stronger.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I did
get reception in areas around the bar so I stayed until lunch started at noon.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I ate alone in the dining room since the showers were still
coming and going.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a marvelous
meal starting with a small bowl of pumpkin soup followed by a delicious fish
steak.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They called the fish Dorada which
I had never heard of.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It looked like a
big piece of salmon, about 4 inches square and a half inch thick.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was presented on top of string baby peas,
with small squares of squash and a mound of white rice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A half lime and small bowl of melted butter
accompanied the dish.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For dessert they
served a hot banana crumb cake with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">After the meal I walked back to my cottage and changed into
my swim suit and went swimming right in front of my cottage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The water was cooler than I expected but very
clear and refreshing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had thought of
going snorkeling but the water was so clear I could see the area and I didn’t
see any fish but I did see some rocks but no coral so I just swam around.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I decided to finish my swim the couple
that had ridden in the SUV with me came down from reception with snorkeling
gear.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He swam around but he didn’t
appear to be seeing anything worthwhile either.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I returned to my cottage and used a hose in the back to wash
off the sand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Inside I showered and
washed out my bathing suit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I spent the
afternoon relaxing and updating some files on my laptop.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As the sunset I packed up my laptop and
headed for the Bar and Restaurant hoping to catch a picture of the sun sinking
below the horizon but as has happened to me so many times before there were
clouds on the horizon and I missed getting a good picture. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">At the bar I ordered a beer and set up my laptop and tried
to connect to no avail.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With my smart
phone I wandered around the area trying to find the strongest signal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I did get a lot of bars I got a message
that the Wi-Fi was too weak to connect.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Disappointed, I packed up my laptop.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">A young couple was playing Trivial Pursuit Board game and I
engaged them in conversation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were
from northern Portugal but were playing the game in English.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They spoke English very well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was President of a Board Game Club in his
home time and they were having a good time trying to answer the questions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">At 19:00 I entered the dining room and ordered dinner.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For a starter I had a Chefs Seafood Medley
which turned out to be a mussel, a shrimp and a small baked fish.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For the main I had the lamb chops over mixed
vegetables and potatoes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was outstanding
in both presentation and taste.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
dessert was a lemon margarine tart.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">After dinner I went to the reception and was able to connect
and send an email to Judy to tll her not to expect a call Saturday.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I returned to my room and retired early.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Sunday, October 27,
2013:</b> Fly Principe, Sao Tome to Sao Tome, Sao Tome<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">At 05:00 I awoke and walked over to reception to see if I
could get a Wi-Fi signal so I could find out who won the World Series
game.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I discovered that if I stood near
the TV Dish I could get a strong Wi-Fi signal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Unfortunately the Red Sox lost on a freak call in the bottom of the 9<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup>
inning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I tried to call Judy on Vonage
and was surprised how clear the connection was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>After talking to Judy I returned to my cottage and got my laptop and
returned the strong reception spot so I could download email and files to the
laptop.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As the downloads were completing
it started to sprinkle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I returned to my
cottage as the rain became harder.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">After showering and shaving is was getting close to breakfast
time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was still raining so I donned
my rain jacket and walked across the bridge to Bom Bom Island.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was the only one in the dining room at
07:00.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I ate a hardy breakfast and
returned to my cottage to pack.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At 08:00
I lugged my bags to reception and connected with Wi-Fi again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>`The rain picked up and at 09:00 a SUV
arrived to drive me to the airport.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
was the only one leaving.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It rained on
and off during our drive to the airport.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The driver was concerned that the flight would be cancelled or delayed
because of the rain and low visibility.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The rain had stopped when we reached the airport and I checked in for
the flight.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">There was a tall blond man there seeing off a
passenger.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He introduced himself as
Henry and asked me in English where I was from and how had I enjoyed my stay on
the island.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I told him that it wasn’t a
long stay and he said too bad that I didn’t have time to see the town and other
sites around the island.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">He showed me the waiting room and I sat in there until our
scheduled departure time of 10:20 when the reservation agent entered and
informed us that the plane was not going to arrive until 11:30.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I asked the Bom Bom driver if he could drive
me to town and back while we waited.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
replied that he couldn’t but he could take me back to the Bom Bom Island Resort
if I wanted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I passed on that suggestion
and he left.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Henry was still there so I
asked him if he could show me the town and he said sure and I loaded my
carry-on in his pickup and off we went.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The airport is in the center of the island and Bom Bom
Island is the most northern tip of the island.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The town of Santo Antonio was southeast of the airport.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The road from the airport to town was paved
and the houses seemed to be generally a little better built and quality then on
the road north to Bom Bom Island.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Along
the way and in the town we passed a number of houses and buildings that date
back to the Portuguese colonial days.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A
river runs through the town.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We rode
around the town square, past several churches and stopped at a building with a
terrace restaurant for a cold drink.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The company Henry works for owns the aircraft so he was able
to call to get status of the flight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Henry was from Zimbabwe and is the Project Manager on the project to
convert the abandoned Belo Monte Plantation into a resort hotel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After calling the aircraft dispatch he
learned that the flight was going to be further delayed so after our drink he
drove me around additional areas and stopped at his house.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a cute little wood sided house similar
to so many of the ones on the island.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
had a stream forming the boundary of his property.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The road from town to his house was paved but
full of pot holes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">He then told me he would take me on a back way to the
airport.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The road got progressively
worst.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We rode past several abandoned
plantations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When the Portuguese turned
the colony over to the locals, the Portuguese plantation owners abandon the
plantations and left the country.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
arrived on the west side of the runway and had to drive across the runway to
reach the terminal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They told us the
plane was delayed until 3 o’clock.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Henry then took me to Belo Monte.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was impressive with an archway that looked
like the front of the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It had a large bell over the entrance to a
large area.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To the left (West) was the
two story main house.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To the right was
the Coco processing plant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Henry drove
past the buildings to a lookout area that had a wall, concrete table and
benches.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Below the point was the Banana
Beach and off in the distance the Bom Bom Island.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Back at the buildings there was one building that was set up
as a kitchen, laundry, TV room, bar and Internet Café.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was introduced to Christo, the Construction
Manager, who offered me a beer and a meal of Irish stew.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was from South Africa but had spent a
number of years restoring old houses in Ireland.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He gave me the password to their Wi-Fi and I
was able to check messages.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We discussed a verity of things and then Chris started in on
the current situation in the US about halting the government.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He had some interesting thoughts on the economy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Henry got a call from Sao Tome informing him that
the plane would be taking off at 15:00.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I bid farewell to Christo and thanked him for his hospitality and
conversations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Christo told me that they
both were on Facebook and to keep in touch.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I gave Henry my business card with my email and blog addresses.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The plane finally arrived at the airport at 15:30, over five
hours late.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Henry introduced me to the
pilots and I asked them which side of the aircraft I should sit to get the best
views of the two islands.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He told me the
left side and I bid Henry goodbye, offered to pay for the several drinks he
bought which he refused saying he was just happy to have my company and to show
me the beautiful island and Belo Monte.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He said I gave him an eventful Sunday.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Since there was only six other passengers I had the pick of
seats and sat in row five on the left side.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We took off at 16:10 for a thirty minute flight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I did have good views of the town on takeoff
and of Sao Tome on landing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At Sao Tome
it didn’t take long to retrieve my luggage and the driver from the Travel
Agency was waiting outside the terminal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He introduced me to their English speaking guide and we discussed the
tour that I was supposed to take that day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He told me that it was too late to take the tour that day and it had yet
to be paid for.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I informed him that I
was leaving the next morning and I would have to cancel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He agreed and was not happy to lose the fee.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I was driven back to the hotel and the items I had left with
the driver when I checked-in for the flight to Principe were returned and we
agreed that he would pick me up at 09:00 the next morning.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I found that the room they assigned me in the hotel could
receive a strong Wi-Fi signal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When the
dining room opened at 19:00 I went to have supper.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After the big lunch and dinner in Principe I
decided to eat light and had a tuna salad.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It was essentially a whole can of tuna on a bed of lettuce, sliced tomato
and cucumber with just oil and vinegar dressing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I found it filling and returned to my room.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I debated whether to set my alarm to wake up at mid-night to
listen to the World Series game or to get a good night’s sleep since Monday
night I would be flying through the night.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I decided to set the alarm for 05:00 and get eight hours sleep in my
last night in a hotel in West Africa.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It was my last hotel night in West Africa.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Monday, October 28,
2013:</b> Fly Sao Tome, Sao Tome to Dakar, Senegal via Libreville, Gabon<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I was awakened at 04:00 by a phone call front the front desk
informing me that a taxi driver was in the lobby to take me to the
airport.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I told him he had the wrong
room and a few minutes later he called again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This time I got up and walked to the front desk.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The agent on shift did not understand English
and was just calling everyone that was scheduled to checkout that day.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Just then a couple of guys can down the stairs with their
luggage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The taxi was for them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I returned to my room and checked the
internet and discovered that the Red Sox had just won the fourth game of the
World Series and were then tied with St. Louis two games each.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I called Judy and then went back to bed
resetting my alarm for 06:00.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">When I got up at 06:00 I had planned on eating breakfast but
discovered that the dining room would not open until 07:00 so I wrote in my
journal and emailed October 22 to 27 out to my followers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Shortly after 07:00 I ate breakfast and then returned to the
room to shower only to discover that there was no hot water, just air when the
faucet was turned to complete hot AND no shower curtain around the tub.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Eventually warm water started to flow and I
had a great time having to be careful with the shower wand so as to not flood
the bathroom.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I packed and checked out at 09:00.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My driver arrived and drove me to the
airport.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He assisted with my check-in
and we bid farewell.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Check-in was so
quick I had almost a two hour wait.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
plugged in my smart phone since I was scheduled for a long time before reaching
a hotel.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The aircraft was an ATR-72 like the one I fly into Sao Tome
on two days before.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Open seating, I
selected 7A and settled in for a one hour flight to Libreville, Gabon.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Arriving at Libreville my fun began.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were not structured to process transit
passengers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I guess it doesn’t occur on
a regular basis.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After wandering around
the terminal following policemen and policewomen they took my passport and
dumped me in the departure lounge with my checked bag.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They had Wi-Fi for a fee and very few
understood English.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I was looking at the departure screen when I noticed that my
flight which was scheduled to leave at 16:25 was delayed to 22:55.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A quick calculation and I determined that I
would miss my connection in Dakar to Casablanca at 03:00.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A degree of panic set in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I purchased some hours of Wi-Fi and called
Judy and Klaus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was able to inform
Judy of my predicament but was not able to reach Klaus at first.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I then went in search of an airport official
that understood English and could help me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>At the security check point I asked if anyone understood or spoke
English.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One wise guy informed me in
English that Gabon was a French colony and only French was to be spoken.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I told him that was well and good but I had a
problem with my flight connections.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
said OK and led me to the Arrivals open concourse and directed me to the
Information booth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There I learned that
neither Senegal Airlines nor Royal Air Maroc had offices at the airport.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She wasn’t much help so I re-entered the
terminal with the Security Official.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Back at the check point he explained to his co-workers what had
happened.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A female Security Agent then
motioned for me to follow her and she lead me to an office of ladies with
computer terminals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One spoke English
and reviewed the flight information and determined that I would have no chance
making my connection.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She then informed
me that Royal Air Maroc had a Libreville-Malabo-Casablanca flight departing at
03:00.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She called the Royal Air Maroc
Station Manager and he informed her that seats were available but I would have
to go downtown to purchase the ticket or I could have my travel agent purchase
the ticket.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She let me use her desktop
to log on to Outlook to send Klaus a message.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>For some reason Outlook would not accept my password on her machine, so
I thanked her and returned to the waiting area where my checked bag was
stashed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I set up my laptop on a check-in counter that had a power
strip with a few open sockets.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I then
had to purchase an additional Wi-Fi slip (only one device was allowed per slip)
and sent Klaus a message requesting that he purchase the Libreville -Malabo-Casablanca
flight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Soon I received a response from
him regarding my Libyan visa.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Libyan
Embassy Consular Office was requesting additional justification to issue my
visa on Tuesday (they would be closed for a holiday on Wednesday).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I found a strong hotspot in the waiting area and was able to
get a clear call to Klaus over Vonage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He informed me that Royal Air Maroc Libreville-Malabo-Casablanca flight
was over $2,000.00.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead he was re-booking
me out of Dakar on a 06:40 flight to Casablanca and would email me the
ticket.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I soon received the email and
started a search to find a printer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There was a VIP Lounge near security and I went in there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were no passengers but there was an
English speaking receptionist.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She told
me the business center might have a printer and she called and they responded
that it was broken.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Observing that the lounge had free food, drinks and Wi-Fi I
asked how I could use it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She told me it
was open to anyone that purchased a ticket for $26 at a booth in the entrance
to the terminal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I told her that
the police had my passport she offered to go down herself to purchase the
ticket.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I then retrieved my luggage and
set up my laptop next to a wall outlet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I was able to transfer the new ticket from Klaus email to Dropbox and
down to my smart phone.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I was able to call Judy and my brother Marc, have a couple
of beers and a soda and snacked.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At
20:00 the Lounge Receptionist told me they were checking in my flight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wheeled my bag down to the Check in hall
and stood in line when I got to the counter the agent asked for my passport I
told him the Police still had and someone told me they would had it back as I
left the country.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He wouldn’t check me
in and a supervisor came over and asked me to stand a side.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The supervisor left and in a few minutes
returned with my passport and directed me to the head of the line.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had left my carry on in the lounge so I
passed through security very quickly and was back in the lounge for a three
hour more wait.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Thirty minutes before the listed departure I packed up and
returned to the waiting area.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They
boarded an Air France flight to Paris and a Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt but the
Senegal Airlines aircraft had not arrived.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>As the listed 22:55 departure approached a shouting match between a
passenger and the authorities started with a number of people on both
sides.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At first I couldn’t figure out
the basis of the trouble and then I noticed that the departure screen now
listed my flight as delayed until 00:55.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I called Klaus and informed him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He told me that it would be a tight
connection but he would inform Royal Air Maroc.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The aircraft arrived after mid-night and I attempted to take a picture
as it taxied bye to record the “tail number” for my flight log.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It came out a big blur and a Policeman
approached and told me no pictures looking toward the runway and watched as I
deleted it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Tuesday, October 29
2013:</b> Fly to Tangier, Morocco via Cotonou, Benin, Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, Dakar,
Senegal and Casablanca, Morocco and taxi to Ceuta, Spanish Morocco<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">A little after midnight they finally called our flight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was one of the first to board the
aircraft.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Police were doing a document
check on everyone but since they all knew me by then they just waved me
through.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I chatted up the flight
attendants and learned that Senegal Airlines has only a few large jets and one
had broken down in Cotonou and they had to use the aircraft and crew to first
fly to Cotonou and deliver the passengers in Dakar and then fly to
Libreville.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I asked them when they
expected to land in Dakar they were evasive but assured me I would make my
06:40 connection.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The plane took off at
00:50 and made stops in Cotonou and Abidjan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I slept most of the flight.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We landed in Dakar at 06:05 and I saw the Royal Air Marco
aircraft but I figured I would miss the connection.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The bussed us to the Terminal and I was the
first off running into the terminal saying I was transit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was directed around the Control Check lines
to a burly Policeman.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He took my
passport and told me it was too late for the Royal Air Marco flight but just
then a woman came up with three boarding passes with my name on them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She told me to get my bag when it came off
the carousel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were holding the
flight for me and two others.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Once I got
my bag she made out a baggage tag to Tangier affixed it to the bag and I
boarded a bus to the plane.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I gave my
bag to a ground staff and climbed the ramp the pilot saw me and pointed to his
watch.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I got on the plane the
cockpit door was still open and I shouted in to the pilot thanking him for
waiting for the Senegal passengers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I settled in on a row by myself and slept a little and had a
hot breakfast.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I t was a three hour
flight and when I landed we were bussed to the terminal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Casablanca airport has good signage plus
they have lines on the floor directing passengers to baggage claim or to
transit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the transit room my passport
and boarding passes were checked and the Policeman motioned in the direction of
long lines for security bag check.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When
I finally loaded my bags on the x-ray machine a Security checked my paperwork
again and told me I was in the International Departure line and to go
back.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I returned to the woman that had
sent me in that direction in the first place.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This time she told me to follow the white line out the other side of the
room.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It was a long walk to a big room with a coffee bar.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They had tables and a cell phone plug in
pole.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was no Departure monitor or
gate agents in the hall.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My ticket
listed gate C18 and the gate numbers were from 1 to 10.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was concerned but everybody in uniform I
showed my ticket to indicated that I was in the right place.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Close to departure time a gate agent arrive
and unlocked one of the doors and a bus drove up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She then announced the departure of the
flight to Tangier and I entered the line, boarded the bus and was driven to the
plane.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was assigned a seat over the wing
two rows back of the exit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No one was
assigned next to me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I slept a little on
the forty minute flight.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">As we approached the Tangier airport I was surprised at the
scene from the air.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It looked like the
city was built using Lego blocks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Every
building was a square or rectangle with flat roofs and square windows.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were clusters of apartment buildings,
rectangular, painted white with neat square windows and flat roofs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The airport was almost deserted when we landed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The passport control hall was huge and the
dozen or so from our flight quickly processed through the four Control
Stations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Once I retrieved my luggage I
headed to the Information Booth in the lobby.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There I found an English speaking agent and I asked her what was the
best way to get to Ceuta.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She acted as
though she never heard of it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even the
other agent didn’t seem to know where it was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I asked them for a map and showed it to them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They immediately knew what I was referring to
but apparently they refer to it as Septa.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They recommended that I take a taxi and that the prices were posted next
to the terminal exit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There wasn’t a
Ceuta or Septh on the price list but the most expensive trip was 500 DH.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I exchanged money to get 1000 DH and
proceeded to the taxi stand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I told
the taxi driver where I wanted to go he told me he needed the Police permission
and showed me a form that he needed filled out with my details as the passenger
requesting the trip.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We went back in the
terminal and found a policeman.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
copied information from my passport and took the driver to the Police
Office.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I returned to the cab and
waited.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It didn’t take the driver very long and he returned with the
signed and stamped form and away we went.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The taxi speedometer was broken but I could tell he was wasting no time
getting to the border.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He did stop for
gas and slowed up several times where the Police had a radar gun catching
speeders.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The limit appeared to be 120km
when there was a sign.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We were on a toll
road that by passed Tangier and traffic was very light until we got close to
the ferry landing past Ksar Sghir.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
roads were very smooth and had very few vehicles.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The terrain was very interesting with rock
formations, hills and mountains.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Along the
ridge line in many places were wind generators.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Scattered on the hill sides were small houses and some crop land.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We were driving inland so I didn’t see the
sea until we approached Ksar Sghir.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
was a clear day and we could easily see Tarifa, Spain and at one point
Gibraltar.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just past Ksar Sghir there
was a huge Ferry Port with several large ferry ships in port.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were separate entrances for trucks,
autos and pedestrians.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was quite a
sight to see on a clear sunny day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
followed the coast for a short distance and then headed south to wind our way
through the rocky terrain until we came down towards the Alboran Sea just north
of Tetouan, Morocco.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As we were
descending the mountain into Tetouan we made a sharp left and up over a hill
down to the border.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The border was a sea
of taxis in a large lot and a string of vehicles inline to enter Ceuta.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The taxi driver let me off and I paid him 500DHS which he
had shown me on a price sheet before we left the airport.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was mobbed by men wanting to help me cross
the border.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I repeatedly said no but one
of them begged just for money.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He wanted
100DHS ($12) for just pointing me to the Passport Control office.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a long walk across the border often
along a narrow one person wide path.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
was a little tricky having to contend with two wheeled bags.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had to push one in front while pulling the
other behind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At one point I had to
navigate a turn stile and got stuck with the big bag.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It took several people to free the bag and
me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">On the Spanish side I hired a taxi to take me to my
hotel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Hotel Parador was dated and
the lobby was full of old folks playing cards.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There were four active tables.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
appeared to be the youngest in the lobby.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They had Wi-Fi and as soon as I got the password I connected and saw
that the Red Sox had won game 5 five of the series.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As soon as I deposited my bags in the room I
went for a walk around the city before the sun set.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was beautiful with building lit with spot
lights, modern shops, many little cafeterias with tables set outside and a
McDonalds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I walked down a pedestrian
street and then along the water front.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There were many statues along my walk.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">After the sun set I returned to the hotel, called Judy and
Klaus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After my calls I had a beer and
devoured a plate of peanuts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I asked the
bartender if they served a light meal in the bar and he replied yes after 21:00
when the main dining room opened.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had
hoped to go to bed early so I went out again and ate at the McDonalds before
19:00.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Back in the room I washed clothes and wrote in my journal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It had been a very long day and night.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Wednesday, October 30,
2013:</b> Taxi to Tangier, Morocco and fly to Madrid, Spain<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The dining room didn’t open for breakfast until 07:30 so I
got up at 06:00, showered (it had the hottest water I encountered so far on my
trip), shaved and packed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I checked out
at 07:20 and ate breakfast when the dining room opened.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The front desk called a taxi which drove me to the
border.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Leaving Ceuta was easier than
entering.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The pathway was wider and I
wasn’t hounded by men wanting to assist.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Fortunately I had picked up a Moroccan Entry/Exit form at the airport
and had filled it out before I left the hotel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That was another way the men made money was to confiscate the blank forms
from the Passport Control counter and then offer to fill it out for you for a
fee.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since I already had the form it
stopped them from hounding me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">At the taxi stand the next taxi up agreed to take me to the
airport for 500DHS.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we left the lot
he by-passed the road I had entered the area on and drove south to Tetouan,
Morocco and into the center of the city where we stopped at the Police station
so he could get a permit similar to the one the driver the day before had to
get to drive to the border.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was struck
by the comparison of shops just a few kilometers apart.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ceuta’s shops were stores like you see on a
typical European street whereas in Tetouan the shops spilled out on the
sidewalk and there were many vendor stands on the sidewalks like a typical
African city/village.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Culture rather
than climate or building dictated the layout, look and feel between the two
cities.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We had a little difficulty navigating the streets to get out
of the city.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The taxi driver did not
appear to know the route and we turned up one way streets and almost were hit
head on and up streets that had no turn into signs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Eventually we were on the road I remembered
from the day before and on to the Ferry Port.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>At the entrance to the toll road that I had traveled the day before he
didn’t take it and instead followed the coast.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I was happy because the panorama views of the sea was spectacular and I
found Ksar Sghir to be an interesting town to drive through and it then we
drove through the city of Tangier.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had
visited Tangier on a cruise ten years ago and it had grown up since then with
many high rise buildings and fancy hotels.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We reached the airport in an hour and fifteen minutes,
quicker than the toll road route from the day before and a much more
interesting drive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I entered the
Terminal I was greeted by the young lady at the Information booth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She asked how I liked the visit.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I was very early to check in for my flights so I setup my
laptop on a wide window shelf above a power outlet and wrote in my journal.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Eventually the check-in counter opened and I checked in and
processed though document checks and security.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I was allowed in the VIP lounge and was the first VIP passenger to
arrive and an agent had to unlock the door.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It was a small lounge with a few sandwiches in the glass door
refrigerator and limited variety in drinks but it did have Wi-Fi and TV.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Soon the lounge gained more passengers and
then our plane arrived and we walked across the ramp to board a CRJ-1000.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I sat next to young man on his way to Paris with his brother
and nephew sitting across the aisle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
spoke excellent English and told me his brother had gone to college in
Montreal, Canada and that he had gone to college in Paris.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were on their way to visit a sister in
Paris.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He wanted to know what I thought
of Tangiers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I told him that I
hadn’t visited Tangiers in 10 years and that I was visiting Ceuta he was
surprised and then I told him of my travels.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He then started to ask me about other African countries and which ones I
would recommend he vacation in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He had
heard that Kenya was a beautiful country.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I agreed and we discussed others.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 168.75pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">As we flew over Spain I noticed
that they had a lot of wind generators.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>At one point I saw a very bright light surrounded by circles of objects
on the ground.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wondered if that was
one of the new electrical generating facilities which use mirrors to focus the
sun’s rays on a tower where water is heated to drive steam generators.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">When the plane landed I saw that Madrid’s airport is one of
the largest airports in the world in size of land.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We taxied a long way to a parking spot and there
we were bussed to a large arrival hall where we processed though Passport
Control and then had to walk a fair distance and take an escalator to a train
station to take a train to baggage area.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Even with the time all that took our bags and not arrived.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I stopped at an Information booth to get a recommendation to
the hotel I had on a piece of paper.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This was a big mistake.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
Information clerk recommended that I take a Metro.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was easy to get to and the hotel was a
short walk from the station.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I purchased a ticket and waited on the platform for the
train to arrive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I waited and waited and
then the train arrived and I boarded it and waited and waited.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An hour after I had retrieved my luggage the
train departed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My stop was four stops
from the airport and when I exited the train I found only steps, no escalators
to reach the street level.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a lot
of lugging with my 50 lb bag and my carry-on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Once I was on the street it wasn’t too bad and the walk was past the
National Museum with its beautiful statues adorning the front of the building.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The place the Information clerk had marked on my map for the
hotel turned out to be the Hard Rock Café.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I had to walk around the block for the entrance to the hotel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I checked-in at registration they had no
reservation in my name.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I checked my
voucher and discovered that I was at the wrong hotel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I then remembered that I had asked Klaus to
book me into a Marriot hotel where I figured that my Silver status would
provide some amenities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They reservation
agent printed out a Google map of the Marriot hotel, the AC Bristol, to show to
the taxi.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The taxi ride took me through the center of the city past
many monuments and beautiful buildings and park areas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the tourist map of the city the AC Bristol
was at the very south edge next to the Puerta de Atocha train station.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The hotel did not provide free Wi-Fi in the rooms for Silver
status customers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Breakfast was not
included in my fare and the dining room didn’t open until 20:30.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The sixth game of the World Series started at
1AM and I planned to sleep and few hours before listening to the game so I
wanted an early dinner.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I walked the neighborhood around the hotel and found that
many of the restaurants didn’t serve until 9PM and the café menus were not
appealing so I settled on a Burger King as the quickest and safest place to
grab a quick dinner and it had free Wi-Fi.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">As I was eating I received a message from UTS that my Libyan
visa had been approved and would be ready for pick-up at 14:30 DC time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I quickly finished my burger and returned to
the hotel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was strong free Wi-Fi
in the lobby and between Vonage calls and emails Klaus and I worked out the
schedule for the remainder of my trip.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He informed me that the flight with stops in Puntland now bye passed the
cities so there was no reason for me to spend time in Somaliland.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The plan had been to fly to Somaliland, spend
the night and then take a flight that stopped in several Puntland cites on its
way to Nairobi.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The cancellation of that
portion of the trip also removed the requirement for a Kenya visa.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The revised scheduled had three nights in Tripoli visiting
the UNESCO sites at Sabratha and Lepyis Magna; a plane change in Mogadishu; a
night in N’Djamena, Chad (which was the last UN country for me to visit in
Africa); a day in Sharm El Sheik; and several days in the Canary and Madeira
Islands.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Klaus then informed me that FedEx could not guarantee
delivery of my passport in Madrid until Tuesday, November 5<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> so he
was going to switch to DHL which would guarantee that it would arrive at the
hotel by Monday so my flight out of Madrid was scheduled for Monday at midnight
to fly to Tripoli via Istanbul.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">With the schedule agreed to I returned to my room, set my
alarm for 1AM and went to sleep.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Thursday, October 31,
2013: </b>Listen to the Red Sox win the World Series and tour Madrid.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">At 01:00 I awoke, purchased 24 hours of in room Wi-Fi and
tuned in the World Series on my laptop.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It was exciting since the Cardinal’s pitcher had been very good in
previous games but the Red Sox got to him and he gave up walks and hit a batter
for the first time since becoming a professional ballplayer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He left the game early and the Red Sox won 6
to 1.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">As I listened to the game I revised my pocket schedule and
flight log with the new itinerary. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The game and post-game activities finished before 5AM and I
returned to bed and slept until after 09:30.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>After a shower and shave I dressed and went to the hotel Business Center
to print out my e-tickets and my pocket schedule.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It turned out to be more difficult than I
expected.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Business Center desktops
required that 1€ coins be put in a slot for ten minutes of operation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By the time I logged in to my email and
opened the attachment on the emails with the revised itinerary and e-tickets
and sent it to the printer the time expired but the 16 page document was in the
printer queue and took a long time to print.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">When I had opened the pocket schedule it came up in an
Oracle Excel clone which I could not find the tools to format the document to
print.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After the print job completed I
returned to my room and copied my pocket schedule to a thumb drive.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">This time when I obtained coins for the computer I asked the
desk agent if the Business Center computers had Microsoft Office
installed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She said yes and I put in a
coin and plugged my thumb drive in and looked for Microsoft Excel on the
computer to open the pocket schedule.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
couldn’t find it and I had to revert to the Oracle clone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It took some time to discover where to change
the print orientation and I could not figure how to format the day/date in
English.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The time was expiring just as I
changed the orientation to landscape and send the job to the printer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was upset and told the front desk agent
that I wanted my money back because the computer did not have Microsoft Office
installed as advertised.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She called the
vendor and they admitted that Microsoft Office is not installed and refunded my
money.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then she recommended one of the
Internet Cafes down the street might have Microsoft Office installed on their
computers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I left the hotel and as I looked for the Internet Café I
also checked places to eat lunch and stopped in a place where I had a nice
salad and a ham and cheese on a roll.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The roll was jaw breaking but the salad with lettuce, tomatoes, olives
and tuna was very good.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I gave up on
going to an Internet Café and walked the area.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Back at the hotel they had a new desk agent and I asked him
about trains to San Sebastian.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He had
recently visited it and highly recommended that I go, printed out a schedule
and recommend that I go to the Puerta De Atocha train station a few blocks away
and purchase the round trip ticket.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">At the train station I had to draw a numbered slip and wait
for my number to appear on a board with the number of the agent that would sell
me the ticket.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I drew 563 on my slip and
the agents were working on 518.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Needless
to say it was a long wait.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Eventually I
was able to purchase a round trip ticket, leaving at 08:48 on Friday and
departing San Sebastian at 13:33 on Sunday.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I noticed they had reserved seats.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I then explored the train station.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It had a beautiful botanical garden in the center
of the station with a turtle farm at one end.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I found a place to eat a light supper and returned to the hotel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was tired from the four hour game in the
middle of the night so I went to bed early. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 319.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Friday, November 1, 2013:</b> Travel by train to San Sebastian, Spain<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 319.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I got up at six and when I packed
I moved some of my things into a smaller bag to be left at the hotel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I arrived in the lobby to checkout I
read my emails and discovered my DHL package was already in Madrid so I made
sure the hotel staff would sign for it and hold it for my return Sunday
evening.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I stored the extra bag with
them and took a taxi to the train station which was in the very north of the
city center.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 319.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The station was not as impressive
as the one in the south of the city. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
track number for my train was not posted so I bought a ham and cheese sandwich
and an iced tea for breakfast.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then I
sat in front of a display board and waited for my train’s track number.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was 08:00 and my train was scheduled for
08:48.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was not until 08:30 for the
track number to be displayed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 319.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">In each car half the seats face
forward and half face backwards and have dropdown trays.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the center where the front facing and rear
facing seats meet there is a table.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
was assigned a right aisle facing forward with the table.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 319.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Between each seat were two power
outlets.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Initially I had no one sitting
at the window seat next to me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Across
from me and in all the rear facing seats was a group of slightly handicapped
teenagers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The train was a local
stopping every thirty minutes or so.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Between two stops I had a seat companion but most of the trip the seat
was open.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Two hours into the trip the
teenagers left and then our coach got a lot quieter.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 319.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I setup my laptop and caught up
on my journal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I should have purchased
an extra sandwich to have for lunch.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There was a vending machine that ate my coins without delivering any
snacks.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 319.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The train traveled northeast
toward San Sebastian with stops in: Villaba, Avila, Arevalo, Medina del Campo, Valladolid
Campo Grande, Venta de Banos, Palencia, Burgos Rosa de Lima, Brivsca, Miranda
de Ebro, Vitoria Gasteiz, Alegria-Dulantzi, Agurain/Salvatierra de Alava, Araia,
Altasu, Legazpi, Zumarraga, Beasain, Ordizia, and Tolosa before arriving in San
Sebastian/Donostia at15:58.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 319.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I saw a lot of variety in the
Spanish country side, small villages, large towns and cities, open farm land,
hills, woods and wind turbines.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One
thing that surprised me was the vast amount of graffiti that I saw along the
way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was not just scribbling of words
and sayings but elaborate scenes with multiple colors which indicated that it
took some time to complete.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some were
attractive works of art but for the most part I thought it cheapened the
beautiful scenery along the way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
weather was clear and sunny most of the way but as we got close to the coast it
started to cloud up.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I took a taxi to my hotel Barcelo Costa Vasca high on a hill
above the Miramar Palace.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I checked
in I asked about taking an English speaking tour the next day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The desk clerk gave me a map and circled the
tourist office and told me they provided the information on daily tours in many
languages.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My room was on the top floor
at the end toward the sea.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It had a
small balcony and I was able to see the surf waves breaking beyond the Palace.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">After depositing my luggage in my room I left the hotel to
walk to the city and the Tourist Office.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The walk started with a set of stairs from the hotel parking lot down to
the street and then down the hill to the Miramar Place Park where I climbed
steps up to the Palace and toured the Palace grounds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It afforded great views of the city.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Below was a highway that ran along a
promenade.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Below the Promenade was a
wide yellow sandy beach.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Although there
was an island guarding the bay the the waves were high enough for surfing and
there were dozens of surfers below the Palace Park end of the beach.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I descended down the road from the Palace and
crossed the highway to the promenade.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
was crowded with people strolling in both directions along with joggers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was a bicycle path between the
promenade and the highway and it had a steady flow of bicyclist.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many of the bicyclists were carrying
surfboards as were people on the promenade.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The surfers were in wet suits and I was surprised at how many were young
girls.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The surfing diminished as I left
the Palace end of the beach but picked up again as I approached the Center of
the city.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">By then the sun had set and I left the promenade when the
streets intersecting it started to look interesting with various shops.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As I wandered the streets window shopping I
came upon the Urumea River and I turned back to the park in front of the Town
Hall.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The Tourist Information Office was a half block from the
Town Hall and they gave me brochures for both walking tours and bus ride tours.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I continued to explore the center of the city
taking pictures of the fine looking buildings and the cathedral.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Starting to walk back to the hotel I deviated
from the promenade and it started to rain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Eventually the streets intersected with the highway alongside the
promenade.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The surfers were leaving the
water and carrying their surfboards back to their rooms.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The young ladies would double up carrying a
surfboard under each arm.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">When I approached the road leading to the Palace I walked by
and through a tunnel under the Palace Park and climbed steps to the Park at the
west end of the tunnel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I reached
the hotel I was thirsty and hungry having not eaten since I left Madrid.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The dining room did not open until 20:30 so I
had sandwich and a couple of beers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The Wi-Fi in my room was strong and I was able to call Judy
on Vonage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were no English
language TV stations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was kind of
comical to see One and Half Men in Spanish.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They matched the tone of the actors very well. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I unpacked, washed clothes and started to
update my calendar with the revised schedule so Wendy and Judy can follow were
I am.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Saturday, November 2,
2013:</b> Tour San Sebastian<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I didn’t set an alarm and slept until after 9am.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My room rate did not include breakfast so I
worked on my computer continuing to update my calendar and my pocket
schedule.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I finished I went down to
the front desk to see if I could print the pocket schedule.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They had a free workstation and printer but
only a couple of sheets of paper.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They
also were using the Open Source Oracle Microsoft Office clone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had the same problem with my Excel
spreadsheet that I had in Madrid.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
couldn’t determine where to change the printer orientation and to set the dates
to English (In Madrid they displayed in Spanish, here they displayed in
Turkish).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I returned to my room and on my laptop converted the dates
to text returned to the printer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It took
a while but I finally found a screen where I could set the orientation and
printed the pocket schedule.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was then
after 13:00 so I decided to each lunch in the hotel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They had a three course set special.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had a delicious octopus salad and a half a
small baked chicken.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The dessert was
four macaroons and a golf ball size scoop of ice cream.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Fortified I headed to the city.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was too late to take the English language
walking tour so I followed the route on my own and then followed the Tourist
Tram tour route on foot.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I saw the city!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It was dark when I returned to my room and my shirts were
damp from the long walk.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I open the door
to the patio and hung my damp shirts up in a strong breeze.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After calling Steve, Marc and Judy I decided
to watch the last episode of the Canadian Amazing Race which I had on my laptop
all of sudden it started to rain and I barely was able to get my shirts in
before they got wet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The breeze had
dried them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Sunday, November 3,
2013:</b> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It rained heavily during the night waking me several
times.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It the morning it had stopped but
the patio was wet and there were still a lot of clouds in the sky.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I showered, shaved, packed, checked out and
took a taxi to the train station.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the
station I had a meal at the café and waited for the train to Madrid.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">On the train I set up my laptop and caught up on my
journal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The weather improved as we rode
south and I was able to see the same great scenery that I had seen on the way
north.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was in the front coach of the
train in one of the seats facing forward.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Only a few passengers were in my coach until <span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Miranda de Ebro when the four seats
across the aisle from my seat filled and someone sat in front of me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She setup her laptop and watched a video.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">At <span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Burgos Rosa de Lima (the halfway point) I finally got a seat mate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The coach filled all seats at Palencia and
then at Valladolid Campo Grande it emptied and the sun set.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At Avila my seatmate left, the coach filled, and
I gained another seatmate who left at Villaba de Guadarrama.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>During the trip I watched 5 episodes of 60 Minutes that Wendy had taped
for me earlier in the year.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">We arrived in Madrid at 21:08 on time and I took a taxi to the
hotel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By the time I checked in and
dumped my luggage in my room I was starved and I left the hotel in search of
food.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I returned to the always open
Burger King.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had spent all of my
remaining Euros on the taxi so I needed a place I knew would accept a credit
card.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Back in my room I washed my underwear and two shirts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I hadn’t realized how dirty on of the dark
shirts had gotten until I saw the water.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>After rolling them in towels to ring out the water I hung the four items
in the closet and went to bed.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Monday, November 4,
2013:</b> Madrid<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">When I awoke at 08:30 I checked the washed clothes and they
were still damp.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the past they had
always dried in eight hours but my mistake was closing the closet door.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The towels I had used to wring out the water
were dry because I hung them over the shower door.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Usually they are damp in the morning and the
clothes dry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lesson learned – DON’T
CLOSE THE CLOSET DOOR with wet items inside!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I used the hair dryer to dry the underwear and rolled the
shirts up tight in the dry towel, opened the window wide and laid the shirts on
the bed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I then showered and shaved and
rushed down to the lobby to check email.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I had a message from DHL that my passport was “Out for Delivery” at
08:54.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I checked the front desk and it
hadn’t been delivered so I walked over to the Atocha railway station to eat
breakfast and exchange money.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I
returned the DHL letter had arrived.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
tore it open and inside was my ten year passport with a Libyan visa.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I confirmed that checkout was noon and even
though my flight didn’t leave until midnight I elected to save the money and
checkout. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My plan was to go to the
airport, check in early and hangout in the Star Alliance Lounge which would
have free Wi-Fi, food and drink.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Right at noon I checked out and dragged my bags to the Puerta
De Atocha train station and up to the top to the bus station and for 5€ take
the Yellow Airport Express bus to the airport.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I sat up front in a handicap seat where I could take some pictures.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The bus was about half full and I had my big
and little luggage in the rack.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I kept
hitting my small back pack on the back of the seat as I looked around at the
sites so I took it off and stashed it on a ledge in front of me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The Puerta De Atocha raiway station is on the southeast edge
of the city and the airport out of the city to the northeast the bus route was
initially north to the city center and turned northeast at Arc of Independence
and soon stopped for another pickup.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
bus filled to maximum capacity and a woman came on with a baby in a stroller.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The young couple in the other handicap seat
was not moving so I gave up my seat and moved to the back of the bus.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">At the airport only about half the passengers got off at the
first stop.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had a little struggle
getting people to move so I could retrieve my two bags and exited the bus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I found a cart, loaded my two bags and
realized I had not retrieved my back pack.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It was still on the bus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
panicked and rushed to the Information booth where a woman that spoke English
told me she would call the bus company and suggested I asked the driver in the
next bus that arrives if he could call the bus I had just exited.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I had to wait fifteen minutes for a Yellow bus to
arrive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The driver didn’t understand
English but one of the passengers translated on my behalf and the driver called
dispatch and told me to wait there for my bus number to return.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had the receipt with the bus number on it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I sat on my large bag on the cart and waited an hour and one
half to my numbered bus to return and there on the driver’s dashboard ledge by
the door was my backpack.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I showed the
driver my receipt and he had me retrieve the bag.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I thanked him profusely.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a good thing I had a long wait for my
flight.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The Turkish Air counter was not open so I bought some lunch
and looked for a place to sit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
Check-in hall at the Madrid Airport does not have a single seat!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I found that there were a few seats
downstairs in the Arrivals Hall.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
didn’t want to give up my cart so I went looking for an elevator.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I found one and entered with others and
pushed the button for the first floor the elevator would not move.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I pushed the door open button and
exited.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wandered around pushing my
cart looking for a place to sit when the second elevator opened its doors and
two men exited wearing the elevator name on their back.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I tried it and that it worked so I wandered
around the first floor and saw that they had a cafeteria with many tables.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I took one of the slope escalator types that allow you to
use a cart up to the first floor and found that Turkish Airlines was checking
passengers in for their 17:00 flight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>When there was no one in line at the Star Alliance Gold counter I asked
the agent if I could get on the 17:00 flight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>She told me it was oversold and they were looking for people to
volunteer to take the midnight flight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Next I asked her if I could check in for the midnight flight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She replied not if I was going to check a
bag.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She then told me they would open
the counter at 21:00 for my flight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Bummer, I had five hours to kill!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I returned to the Arrivals level and set up my laptop and
updated my journal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For a fee I could
purchase Wi-Fi but since California was still asleep I decided to wait until I
could call Judy and Klaus to inform them my passport with visa had arrived.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I spent the afternoon listening to a book on
tape and reading the International New York Times cover to cover.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Times had a long article on the NSA and
another on Kerry’s visit to Cairo.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At 20:00
I went to the Turkish Airlines check-in counter and stood first in line reading
the Times.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Eventually, the agents came
and setup their stations and started to check us in a little after 20:30.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Security was a breeze because they had many
stations and no one in line.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Passport control was something else.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I used my ten year passport with the Libyan
visa to obtain my boarding pass but I needed to leave the country with the two
year passport that I had used to enter the country.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The Star Alliance Lounge Wi-Fi was a little cumbersome. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had to get a 30 minute card with a scratch
off User Name and Password.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So every
thirty minutes I had to log in again with a different name and password.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What a bureaucratic pain when you have two
devices and two hours in the lounge.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I called Judy and Klaus to inform them that I had the
passport and Libyan visa and was checked-in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The food was not substantial for a lounge of the size.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Premade sandwiches of the type you would find
in a US gas station food mart.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It did
have a variety of booze, with large bowls of peanuts, olives and potato chips.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">When it came time to board the plane I walked to the gate
and found long lines at every gate snaking around the departure hall which made
it tricky to navigate to the correct departure gate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It appeared to be not well organized.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At my gate it was not obvious where to line
up as a Star Alliance Gold member so I asked an agent and she just told me to
board with the first group.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">There was a delay in boarding and they called the passengers
by group number printed on their boarding pass.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The first group to be called was business class and Star Alliance Gold
so I lined up with them and was the first person to board the plane in the
economy section.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Every seat on the plane
was taken but I was surprised that there was not the problem with bags being
loaded in the overheads as is often the case with the last to board on full flights.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Tuesday, November 5,
2013:</b> Fly to Tripoli via Istanbul<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The flight departed almost an hour late.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was assigned an aisle seat in the row just
forward of the exit row so my seat did not decline.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I inflated my neck pillow and was able to get
some sleep on the three hour flight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At
Istanbul I passed through passport control quickly and then through
security.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have yet to understand the
rationale behind having passengers just getting off a plane that required them
to pass a security check to get on the plane have them go through security
after they land.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Where and what could a
passenger acquire some prohibited item during a flight?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh well most airports require the second
check so it is one of those things that make flying less fun than it was before
9-11.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I entered the huge Departure Hall at the Istanbul
Airport.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was amazed at the crowds at
05:30.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I entered the huge Turkish
Airways Lounge I found every table occupied.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It was mind blowing the number of people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know that Turkish Airlines flies to more
countries in the world than any other airlines but I was surprised at the
number of people so early in the day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
doubled up at a table with an open power outlet and plugged in my laptop and
smart phone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Having eated a small meal
on the flight from Madrid and knowing I would be served another on the flight
to Tripoli, I didn’t chow down on the food in the lounge with its many food
stations and variety.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The lounge is at the extreme end of the Departure Hall and I
left a little before my boarding time anticipating that I would have a long
walk to my gate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was right; my gate
was at the other end of the Departure Hall, downstairs where passengers are
bussed to their aircraft.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">When I boarded the bus a man insisted that I sit next to the
door.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Did I look that old and
tired?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I guess so.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Anyway when we arrived at the aircraft I was
one of the first off the bus and up the stairs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This time my seat was the row in back of the exit row so I could if I
wanted to recline.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I generally don’t.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I fell asleep after take-off and my leg relaxed so my knee
was protruding into the aisle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When the
flight attendant was pushing the meal cart down the aisle from the front of the
plane the cart hit my knee and I awoke in a scream of short duration pain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It wasn’t that it hurt so much as it startled
me awake.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The attendant was so
apologetic she gave me extra drinks, water, juice and tea which I had no room
to put down on my tray table.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We arrived in Tripoli fifteen minutes ahead of
schedule.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was a little concerned with
passport control since I had a work visa as to what kind of questions I would
be asked.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The agent did take a little
time scrutinizing my visa but didn’t ask any questions and stamped the passport
and I was cleared to pick up my luggage.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">As I exited the Baggage Hall a young man at the railing
called out Edward?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His name was Adnan
Eshibany from Treasures Tours.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He led me
to his new BMW compact and drove me to the Jakarta Hotel which he explained to
me was less expensive than the Corinthia, Intercontinental, Radisson Blu, Four
Seasons or the Sheraton but I will be happy with the room.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was right the hotel is not large but I had
a two room suite with a Jacuzzi bath and shower.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Wi-Fi in the room was free and “Good”
strength.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">After dropping off my luggage in the room we departed for a
tour of the city.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He showed me the Bab
al-Azizia barracks, Gaddafi’s former residence which had been partially
destroyed and other buildings damaged during the revolution.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We then went on a walking tour of the center
of the city crossing the Martyrs’ Square were the revolution started, showing
me where Gaddafi gave one of his speeches claiming everybody loved him but also
where many people were killed; the Marcus Aurelius Arch; the market similar to
the ones in Casablanca and Istanbul; the fish market which was one of the
cleanest I have seen in Africa with a set of peaked roofs like the Denver
Airport.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was tiled and constantly
washed down.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">For lunch we rode out on the highway east of the city past a
burned out car, the result of a gun battle between the leaders of a drug
smuggling gang and the local Police, past an office building with a number of
windows shot out during the gun battle, past the restaurant where Gaddafi gave
another of his “everybody loves me” speech, past the former Wheelus AFB which
still has a military aircraft operation, to a row of fish restaurants.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There we walked past displays of fish that
the customer selects and told how they wanted it prepared and served inside to
the Tripolis Seafood Restaurant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
selected two fish, requested that they be bar-b-queued and some calamari which
was fried with a tangy coating.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
helped ourselves to a salad bar and were given a basket of fresh baked
bread.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The calamari was outstanding, the
fish OK.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To drink we had a large bottle
of water and fruit flavored soda.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Adnan
had a red grape flavored soda and I had peach.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">After lunch Adnan pointed out some more land marks on the
way back to the hotel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The highway ran
alongside the very wide beach which had many makeshift small structures and a
few children’s parks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The beach belongs
to the government which allows the parks but the other structures and just
shelters to change clothes or to hang out in the shade.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I was able to take a two hour nap before Adnan picked me up
for diner.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the way to the restaurant
we stopped to walk to the American Solders grave site.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It has high walls around it and the door was
locked so I could not find out if they were graves from WWII or Wheelus.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The Libyans dine late so when we entered the Ghazala
Restaurant at 20:30 we were the only customers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We ordered Libyan soup and shish kabob.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The soup was very spicy but Adnan showed me that in his house they eat
the soup by soaking bread in it and that seemed to diminish the spiciness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The kabob was good.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Adnan told me he had spent time in Taiwan and Hong Kong with
a young lady from a Taiwanese Tour Group that he had taken to this
restaurant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He also told me that he had
just returned from the American Embassy in Casablanca where he was turned down
to get a tourist visa to the US to visit a Muslim woman from Texas that he had
met on Facebook.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">When we returned to the hotel he introduced me to the owners
and manager of the hotel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were in
the manager’s office discussing real estate deals and showed me a brochure of
small attractive houses they were building.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I was very tired from having flown all night and retired to my room
where I was able to call Judy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
Vonage connection was fair.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I washed my
underwear and took a shower.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wasn’t
able to use the Jacuzzi tub because there was no stopper.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had to just my own in the sink to wash my
underwear.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I went to brush my teeth
the top of my water bottle fell down the drain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It stopped just at the point the drain narrowed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I tried to figure out a way to retrieve it
when I remembered that I had a small roll of duct tape in my bag.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wrap the tape sticky side out a toothbrush
and was able to retrieve it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Enough fooling around so I went to bed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Wednesday, November
6, 2013:</b> Tour Leptis Magna<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">My alarm was set for 06:00 but at the same time the call to
prayer from a mosque close by awoke me before the alarm did.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I was the only one at breakfast when I arrived at
07:00.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The breakfast buffet was not very
large so I would not say I had a hardy breakfast but it was enough.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I checked outside the streets were wet
and there were dark clouds in the sky so I packed my rain coat in my back
pack.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At 09:00 Adnan arrived with his
brother Yousf in Yousf’s Jeep Wagon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Adnan felt that his little BMW 1 series 5-door would not be as
comfortable on the rougher roads on the way to Al-Khums where Leptis Magna is
located.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It was an hour and a half drive and we encountered a variety
of weather from overcast to light rain to heavy rain to sunshine and back
again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The road was flooded in some
parts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We rode east past Wheelus along
the beach and then turned southeast away from the coast inland past Castelverde
until we intersected the coast again in Al-Khums.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Along the way we pasted and overturned milk
tanker truck with milk flowing down the street mixed with the muddy
rainwater.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was an interesting sight.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">One thing that I found interesting is that the pre
revolution license plates spray painted over the old country name in Arabic of
the “<span lang="EN" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Great Socialist
People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya” </span>that Gaddafi had used.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some of them pasted decals of the current
official name of “<span lang="EN" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN;">State
of Libya” or just plain Libya in Arabic over the old name.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Adnan had told me to carry my passport and we passed through
a number of checkpoints but were never interrogated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the Leptis Magna parking lot we
rendezvoused with Abraham the site care taker and guide.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was a retired History Professor and had
been taking care of the Leptis Magna site for 22 years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just as we were about to start out the rain
started again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Abraham put on clear
plastic rain gear. I was happy to have a hurricane jacket.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The rain stopped, the sun came out and we
started out.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The first site was the Septimius Severus Arch, but, the
route Abraham wanted to take down a set of stairs was flooded so we skirted the
Arch staying on high ground past the work area were copies of the figures were
being made.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We then descended to walk
through the sports arena; the swimming pool; the warm room with its once heated
basement; the Apodytercia; and the latrines.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The male seats were larger than the female seats.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was too bad that the elaborate water flow
and sewage system that existed to flow black water to the sea no long
operated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It could have reduced the
flooding we encountered throughout the tour causing us to deviate from
Abraham’s route and in many spots wade through water up to our ankles. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We walked up the Colonnaded Street through the Byzantine
Gate to a temple.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There on the floor by
a stone bench was carved a game board.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The University of Pennsylvania performed some of the archeological
reconstruction in the 1960’s and the remnants of railroad tracks to cart the
excess dirt away still existed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The tracks ended at the sea coast were we encountered very
strong winds that made it difficult to walk on the uneven ground.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The surf was really high from the stormy
sea.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we ventured back in land we
visited the Temple of Serapis; the Hunting Baths; and the Market.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the market Abraham showed me a copy of the
Units Lengths of Measure based on the length of a person’s arm.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">From the market we walked the Arch of Tiberus; the Arch of
Trajan; trough the Chalcidicum Market Place and passed the Schola to the
Theater. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">To me Leptis Magna it had many of the same characteristics
as Ephesus in Turkey without the crowd of tourists.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Having the whole site and guide to me was
uniquely mind blowing even with the flooded areas and occasional rain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The walk along the sea shore was
unforgettable because of the high surf and very strong winds which made the
balancing act of navigating the flooded areas a challenge to not fall
over.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was especially impressed of the
market and then the theater.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We couldn’t
stand in the point that one tests the acoustics of the theater because of high
water.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Abraham encouraged me to climb to
the top of the theater and as I started out bid me farewell and hoped to see me
again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I thought it was a strange thing
to say and he disappeared, stage left as I climbed to the top and took pictures
of the theater and the rest of the site and raging sea.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I finished and descended back to the
stage Abraham was nowhere around so I walked out of the site on my own.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He wasn’t at the office and when I told Adnan
what had happened he called Abraham on his cell phone and told me he would
arrive shortly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When he saw me he asked
me where I went he claims he was calling my name and was concerned that I might
of fallen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He continued by saying that
in 20 years he had never lost a person he was guiding.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I apologized for making him uncomfortable.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We all piled into the Jeep Wagon and drove to the
Amphitheater, a short distance away.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
was another amazing site about 80% restored.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Again he encouraged me to walk around the stands and bid me farewell and
hoped to see me again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t think he
understood the meaning of his statement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This time I kept him in sight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
and Adnan smoked a cigarette and it dawned on me that since he had gone hours leading
me around the site without smoking, he most likely had sneaked off to get a
smoke when he disappeared back at the theater.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Our tour of Leptis Magna complete we dropped Abraham off at the site
office and went in search of a place to eat lunch.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Adnan said that the places he used to eat at
before the revolution had closed due to lack of tourists visiting the site.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We stopped at a Libyan Restaurant with a life size statue of
a camel and its baby standing in front.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I had the typical Libyan lunch of a small salad, bowl of spicy soap, a
lamb bone with some meat on it and boiled potatoes and cabbage on a bed of couscous.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">On the way home we visited Yousf’s summer home recently
built on the sea shore near the Tripoli suburb of Tajoura.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The land was recently the encampment of one
of Gaddafi’s son’s armies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They had
confiscated the land from its rightful owner and after the revolution the
government signed the land back to the original owner who sold it to Yousf.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The road to his house was not paved and often
needed four-wheel drive to drive through the sand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The house was yellow with a cinder block wall
sitting in a wide open area with no close neighbors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yousf is an active surfer, and ski boater and
motorcyclist.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His driving was nail
biting as he drove the speed limit of 60mph right up to the rear of slower cars
and often squeezed between cars. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">He delivered me safely back to the hotel by 16:30 where I had
four hours before Adnan picked me up for dinner.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">He chose a nicely decorated restaurant that he hadn’t eaten
in since the revolution and was surprised to find that it had turned into an
Indian Restaurant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had spinach soap
and a half chicken tandoori.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Back at my room I wrote in my journal and retired about
midnight.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Thursday, November 7,
2013:</b> Tour Sabratha <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The weather was bright and sunny when we headed west of the
city in Adnan’s BMW to Sabratha and the World Heritage Archaeology Site of
Sabratha.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the way Adnan drove me
trough Gaddafi’s compound which was heavily destroyed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Along the way I saw other buildings destroyed
during the revolution.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One was hit by a
NATO bomb.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At Sabratha we meet up with
Fathi a local guide.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was a young man
with a beard who had been a guide for 10 years.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We started out walking past the Roman and Punic Museums,
both closed since the revolution, through the Ancient Residential Quarter to
the Southern Temple and the Statue of Flavius Tullus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There we had close up views of the Mausoleum
of Bes, in my opinion the most stunning structure in the area west of the
theater.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sabratha is known for its
elaborate mosaic tile floors, many of which are intact.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sections of the tile floors have been removed
intact and are on display in museums throughout the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Common people’s homes had black and while
mosaic floors while the upper class had colors in their designs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">One of the interesting designs was the picture of left and
right “flip flops” on the floor of the entry way to baths.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Another common design was the reverse
swastika similar to the American Indian design.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">From the Mausoleum of Bes we walked by another mausoleum
under discovery.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We walked past and
through the Southern Temple; the Baptistery; the Basilica of Apuleius of
Madora; Antonine Temple; Temple of Liber Pater to the Forum.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Across the vast floor of the Forum we visited
the Capitoleum; the Temple of Serapis; the Senate House; the Basilica of
Justinian; the Olive Oil Press; and stopped for a rest and picture taking at
the latrine.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We then walked past the Flavius Toulouse Fountain; a pair of
Christian Basilicas; the Baths of Oceanus to the Lighthouse to the Temple of
Isis at the extreme east end of the complex.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Then we walked up to the major attraction of Sabratha, the three story
high Theater. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was reconstructed by
the Italians in the 1930s and hosted a visit by Mussolini in 1936.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fathi told me that his Grandfather attended
the show to hear Mussolini address the people of Sabratha.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The theater is an impressive structure with a large stage, huge
area for performer’s dressing rooms, seating for VIPs, and about 17,000
spectators.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is currently used for
historical productions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The wall below
the stage had many fine relief figures of gods and performers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">After I climbed to the top of the seats and took pictures of
the area I rejoined Adnan and Fathi, the tour was over.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We walked back to Adnan’s car and drove to
the city to eat lunch.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We stopped in
front of a Chocolate store where Adnan bought some chocolates and then ate in a
Turkish restaurant next door.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I ordered
out of curiosity, a Turkish Pizza and a small mixed salad.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The mixed salad was a mix of Humus, tabbula,
olives, mishveyya and some other things I didn’t know the name of.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The bread was good and went well with the
salad.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The pizza was no different than
the US.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It had ripe olives, sliced
tomatoes, sliced green pepper and lots of cheese.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a small plate size and was enough for
one person.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">During lunch we discussed politics, Gaddafi’s reign, the
good he initially did and the bad that followed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was in office too long in their
opinion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fathi was one of the guides
waiting for the cruise ship that Gaddafi would not let the Americans depart for
shore tours.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Both Adnan and Fathi had
recent experiences of having the US refuse to grant them US visas to attend
schools in the US.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fathi had been
accepted by American University to enroll in the MBA program.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He had all the paperwork for the departure
and yet was not granted a visa with no explanation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Adnan had been sponsored by a Travel Agency
in California to attend a tour manager’s course in Los Angeles and was in his
opinion rudely rejected with no explanation at the US Embassy in Casablanca the
week before my arrival.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They told me
that before the killing of the US Ambassador it used to take just two days to
get a US visa if you had the proper paperwork.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Now they told me they have to apply in person in Casablanca and the told
of other rejections that made little sense.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I guess my problems obtaining a visa pales in comparison.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">After lunch we dropped Fathi back at the site and returned
to Tripoli.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Along the way I saw a lot of
anti Gaddafi graffiti on the walls of buildings and walls.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Back in my room I wrote in my journal until Adnan called at
20:00.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was picking me up early because
he had to quickly stop at his family’s apartment to pay his respects because
his sister was getting engaged that night.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It was a traditional Muslim arranged marriage by the mothers. This would
be just the third meeting between his sister and her soon to be fiancée.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The stopped took longer than expected.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Only Adnan knew the fiancée. He got drawn
into escorting him to the meeting and staying with him as he was questioned by
a room full of women.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Adnan came down at
one point and apologized and invited me to have dinner with his family.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Adnan’s brother Anis who had recently returned from six
years in Vancouver sat with me and some male neighbors on a patio.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Anis was not a supporter of Gaddafi and
couldn’t return to Libya while he was in power. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had a long talk about the safety and
dangers in Libya and said that it is a safe country around Tripoli.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He said everyone he knew did not hold any
animosity with the Americans over the snatching of the terrorist out of his car
a whisking him away to the US to stand trial.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Anis said the attitude among his friends was the guy had it coming
because he killed a lot of innocent people in the bombings of the American
Embassy in Tanzania.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We also talked about the frustrations of the Lybian people
that the new government is not moving fast enough to establish control of the
country.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are many factions (clans,
tribes, unions and militia) that are upset that they are not adequacy
represented in the new government and they are causing a lot of continued unrest.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">As we talked I heard gunshots but Anis said they were
probably celebrations at a party fired in the air.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He said one of Libya’s problems is that too
many people have guns they obtained during the revolution.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As the time got later I felt uncomfortable
because I was dominating Anis’ conversation at the important family
gathering.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When Adnan and the fiancée
reappeared I asked Adnan to take me back to the hotel so I could pack for the
next day’s flight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This gave Anis a
chance to get to know the fiancée better.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">He agreed and dropped me off at the hotel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I called Judy and wrote in my journal and
continued to hear fireworks in the distance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>An hour later Adnan called from the lobby and asked to meet me in my
room.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When he arrived he told me that
there were two gun battles raging in the city between the rouge militia and the
police.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A leader of the rouge militia
had died that afternoon and the rouge militias were out for revenge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Both locations were several miles from the
hotel but he was inviting me to stay at his apartment with his brothers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I thanked him and showed him that a stray
bullet could not hit me in my bed since it was lower than the window and since
I was four stories above the street any bullets would penetrate the window at
an upward angel hitting the ceiling.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
checked the windows and agreed they were not in the line of possible street
fighting and left.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I wrote in my journal and went to bed at midnight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I learned later that the gun fire continued
until 2AM and that two of the rouge militia were killed and 21 wounded.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Reportedly no Government forces were wounded.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Friday, November 8,
2013:</b> Fly Tripoli to Cairo, Egypt<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The gun fire continued during the night but I still fell
asleep and woke to the “Call to Prayer” at 06:00.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The streets were deserted and after the
prayer calls very quiet since it was the end of their week.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was the only one at breakfast and then I returned
to my room and packed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Adnan picked me up and drove me to the airport.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He and his family stayed up until 02:30.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His sister’s fiancée and his family were
afraid to leave until fighting stopped since they lived in the area of the
battle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He told me the people are sick
and tired of the militia thinking because they defeated Gaddafi they should
continue to fight and not join the new government.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is a shame.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">At the airport Adnan accompanied me to the right check-in
counter and then bid farewell.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wish he
had stayed a little longer because the agent didn’t understand English and my
ticket.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was flying: Tripoli to Cairo
with a seven hour layover and then to Addis Ababa and a 13 hour layover where I
had a hotel reservation and then to Djibouti for 24 hours during which time I
flying down to Mogadishu and back, and then on to Addis Ababa again to spend
the night before flying to Chad.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My
e-tickets didn’t show the places where I would check into a hotel and need my
bag so the agent first tagged my bag to Mogadishu.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That was the last place I wanted my bag to end
up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I tried to tell him I wanted to just
check my bag to Addis Ababa but he was confused because I was laying over in
Addis Ababa twice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In desperation he
switched counters with an agent that understood English and that and a little
help with one of the men in line behind me we finally got it straight.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">During the switch in agents I didn’t have my Star Alliance
number recorded and they didn’t give me the pass to the lounge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The passport control was quick but the agent
was surprised at the US passport.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
told he hadn’t seen many of them recently.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The lounge would not let me in just on my Gold Star Alliance
Card.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I needed an invitation from
check-in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It wasn’t a long wait anyway
and the boarding announcement was made.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It surprised me because the plane had just arrived and the passengers
still exiting when I got to the gate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
was a very quick turn around and they started to load the plane.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It surprised me and I was the last to leave
the gate area.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The plane was not
full.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The only middle seats occupied
were with families or groups of men traveling together.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They served a beef dinner and handed out
newspapers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I read the Cairo newspaper
and it was disturbing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The headline
read: “Putin due here soon to restore military ties”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The article described that the Egyptian
government was unhappy with the US cutting military aid and despite John
Kerry’s visit earlier in the week they are turning to Russia to reestablish
ties that existed in the 1970s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Other
articles discussed the confusion and apprehension of the countries in the
region over the changes in attitude by Obama on Syria and Iran.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were articles about: Mubarak remaining
under house arrest; the status of the Muslim Brotherhood; Libya; US-Saudi
relations; US-Iran relations; and the Syrian situation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>None of the articles described the US in a
favorable light.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">At the Cairo airport they have several Star Alliance
Lounges.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One was closed, one was for
smokers and the third was open.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I set up
my laptop, charged my smart phone and processed email and watched videos of TV
shows I had missed since leaving on the trip.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Wendy copies them and uploads them to our shared Dropbox folder.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">When the time came to go to the gate I found it was at the
extreme end of the G wing of the terminal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I had to pass through security at the gate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The plane was pretty full and I was assigned
a seat in the midst of a group of ladies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Despite the late hour several of the ladies talked throughout the flight
making it difficult to get a sound sleep.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They served a meal and I think I did sleep a little but at times I
wanted to tell the ladies to just shut up.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Saturday, November 9,
2013:</b> Fly Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to Djibouti, Djibouti<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">When we landed at Addis Ababa and were exiting the plane the
talkative ladies from my flight continued to talk and walk very slowly up the
exit ramp holding up the passengers behind them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the Immigration Hall there was a line for
“Visa on Arrival” which I first got in and then flipped through my passport and
found that I already had an Ethiopian visa so I exited the line and got in the
Immigration line.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was again in the midst
of the young ladies who were still gabbing away and not moving forward.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I then noticed that there was a special line
for Star Alliance Gold so I got in it and was quickly at the Immigration
counter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was rejected because the visa
I had from two weeks ago was for a single entry so I had to go back to the end
of the “Visa on Arrival” line.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They
would not sell me a multiple entry visa so I will have to pay the $20 again in
two days when I return.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Back at the Immigration Agents desk I was quickly processed
and picked up my luggage only to have to stand in a line for Customs
check.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Again I was caught up in the midst
of the gabbing ladies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When my bag
flowed through the x-ray machine the operator had me open it and show her my CPAP
machine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the meantime another Customs
Inspector was going through the ladies bags and throwing out boxes of perfume
and other cosmetics which I was surprised were not allowed to be brought into
the country.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Finally I exited into the Arrivals Hall and went to the
Harmony Hotel desk to see when the next shuttle was due.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No one was at the desk so I decided to take a
taxi.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The taxi situation is not very
well controlled.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I found a taxi and the
coordinator told me it would cost $20 to take me to the hotel I told him that
it had cost me just $15 two weeks ago but he said the late hour cost $5
extra.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I got in the cab and the driver
wanted 20€ but when I got to the hotel and the bellman had my bags I gave him a
$20 bill and he left.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">They couldn’t find my reservation but the clerk remembered
me from the 28<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> and looked up that record and gave me a room
key.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was 4 in the morning and I set
my alarm for noon and went to bed at 08:00 someone called my room twice so I
took the receiver off the hook.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is
a new hotel being constructed next door and I awoke several times to hammering
and other construction noises.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Needless
to say I did not get a restful sleep.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">At 10:00 I awoke for a bio break and called Judy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She had been out when I called before going to
bed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I slept another hour and at 11:45 I
called the Manager to get a two hour extension on the noon checkout.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I took a shower and updated my journal.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">My flight to Djibouti was not until 16:00 so I checked out
and took the hotel bus to the airport at 14:00.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Even though Djibouti is another country, Ethiopian Airlines considers it
a Domestic flight so I checked in at the old Domestic Terminal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I already had a boarding pass from the day
before but it didn’t have my United Star Alliance Gold number in the record.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I put my bag on the check in belt, handed the
agent my passport, e-ticket, Star Alliance Gold card and my boarding pass.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I asked her to enter the numbers in my record
as she was doing that she forgot to affix the baggage tag on my bag and it started
moving towards the luggage room without a tag.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I called out and she jumped from her counter and went running down the
belt and got to the bag just before it turned the corner into the luggage room.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She completed adding my numbers to my record
and affixed the luggage tag receipt to the back of my ticket.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She also gave me an invitation to the Star
Alliance Lounge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a familiar
lounge because it was where I watched Romney give his concession speech on TV
last November.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">When the time came to go to the gate it also had memories
from last year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On one of the flights
last year out of Addis Ababa the door to the stairs that the passengers have to
take to get to their aircraft was locked and the gate agent couldn’t find the
right key on a ring that had a dozen or more keys on it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This time the door wasn’t locked, it was just
closed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We walked to the aircraft and it left on time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My seatmate was a young US Navy Seaman on his
way to join his first sea deployment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
was from Grand Prairie, Texas, a suburb of Dallas where I worked at Chance
Vought Aircraft before I joined the Air Force.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We had a good conversation during the short flight.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Arrival processing at Djibouti was a mess.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They had lines for VIP’s, Nationals,
Foreigners with Visa and one for Foreigners without Visa.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many of the men on the plane didn’t
understand either English or Arabic and got in the wrong line or had the wrong
paperwork.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It took me over thirty minutes
to get processed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My bag was just coming
on the belt and I loaded it on a trolley and headed for the taxis.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of the locals on my plane told me the
rate was $12 to my hotel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I quoted that
rate to the taxi that loaded my bag and he wanted more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As we were leaving the airport I told me to
turn back if he was not willing to take $12.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He shut up and delivered me to my hotel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The hotel was in the center of the city facing one of the two town
squares in Djibouti.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I would rate it a
one star.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The furniture in the room was
cheap and dated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It had good Wi-Fi but
even standing in the hall below the modem I couldn’t make a Vonage call.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I went down to the restaurant for
dinner.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The menu was limited and the
salad I wanted was not available so I played it safe and ordered spaghetti with
meat sauce.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a big pile on a
medium size plate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It tasted OK.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I retired without writing in my journal and set the alarm
for 04:00.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Sunday, November 10,
2013:</b> Fly Djibouti, Djibouti to Mogadishu, Somalia and to Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The town square was noisy and I was wakened many times and
at 03:00 I got up and checked my email.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The shower had no enclosure.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A
curtain stopped the spray from wetting down the whole bathroom but the floor
was wet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I packed and checked out,
leaving my bags at the hotel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They
called a cab and the bellman told the cab driver to not charge more than
$12.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The cabs are a mix of cars with
taxi signs and rundown wrecks from Japan with right hand drive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From the airport I had the wreck but to the
airport a taxi with sign on top.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Entering the terminal I had to pass through security.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They didn’t like the fact that I keep setting
off the alarm.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I showed them the scar
for my artificial knee and told them if I removed all my clothes I would still
set off the alarm.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Finally they went
into a closet and returned with a wand and confirmed that the only thing on my
person the set it off was the knee.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The check in agent was not going to issue me a boarding pass
without a Somalia visa until I told her I was going to be transit and return on
the same plane.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She was confused and took
me to the Turkish Airlines Station Manager and had me explain to him what I was
doing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He OK’d giving me a boarding pass
and I processed through Immigration and upstairs to pass through another
security check.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Again I was given a hard
time about my knee.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Security Agent
wanted to see a letter documenting the implant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I told him I didn’t carry one and he was the first to ever ask it 10
years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His response was times have
changed and I needed a letter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As he was
lecturing me I put my shoes and belt back on and stood in line to board the
plane.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The plane was an A-321-200 and was pretty full with
passengers that originated in Istanbul.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I was disappointed that all the window seats were occupied.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The plane had seatback video and I watched a
movie on the flight but was not able to see the end before we landed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It was a beautiful view when we landed the airport is on the
coast and parallels the beach.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The ramp
had several planes and helicopters with UN markings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We walked across the ramp to the Arrivals
Hall on a route guarded by armed private security men with jackets marked
Turkish Airlines Security on their backs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">At the door to the hall they handed us a form to fill and
inside the hall was chaos.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One pair of
Immigration Agents was processing passengers without visas, one pair handling
Somalia Nationals and the third pair for passengers with a visa.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I asked several officials which window I
should go to for Transit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A young man
named Mohammad Ali took me to the Agent for passengers without visas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Agent asked me how long I was going to be
in country I told him a couple of hours and he handed back my passport and form
without stamping the passport.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mohammad
then led me to the Departure Hall and got them to unlock the door and told them
I needed a boarding pass.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He led me
passed security and down halls , everyone knew him, and finally to the check-in
area which was a bigger mob scene than Passport Control with two flights
checking in and no signs of lines.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Everyone was crowding the counters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Mohammad found the Turkish Airline check-in agent and pushed to the head
of the line (oops! Head of the mob because there was no line) using my Star
Alliance Gold card and the fact I didn’t have a bag.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He duked it out with another handler that was
performing the same function for a Diplomat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Mohammad won because I had no luggage to check.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">After I received my boarding pass Mohammad led me to a
counter where it was stamped and then to Immigration.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Immigration Agent told him I needed a
visa and Mohammad lead me past the security and gate agents and exited the
Departure Hall and once we were outside he stopped and said let’s wait
here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When the time came for the
passengers to walk to the aircraft he pushed me into the line, we bid farewell
and I handed him a $10.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Near the plane
they were collecting the boarding passes and checking passports.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They asked me why I didn’t have an exit stamp
I told them I was transit and they said OK and let me board the aircraft.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I would have liked to get my passport stamped
but under situation of the mob scene I let it ride.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had a window seat and was able to get great
views of the city and surrounding area.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It didn’t appear to be as bad as was depicted in “Blackhawk Down” or in
the special I saw about the recovery of the Blackhawk helicopter parts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The main city has paved streets and nice
looking buildings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I guess the firefight
was in a suburb.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I was able to fast forward in the movie at the seat to the
point I had stopped on landing and finished seeing the movie on the short
flight back to Djibouti.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We arrived a
little after noon and I had already filled out my entry form and rush to the
line for Foreigners with visa but a group of Chinese workers were ahead of me
and they were taking a long time being processed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The agent at the Djibouti Nationals window
recognized me and as soon as the locals were processed he motioned me
over.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was curious as why he had
processed me to exit just that morning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He laughed and agreed when I told him that Mogadishu was not considered
safe for Americans so I flew back.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I had no luggage and thought it would be easy to get a taxi
to the hotel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There appeared to be some
sort of a system of priority and I was directed to a beat-up old right hand
drive Datsun.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I told the driver $12 was
all I was willing to pay he argued for more but when I started to get out to
find another taxi he relented.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He made
up for it by picking up and discharging passengers along the way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since I know the city I quickly determined
that he was not taking a direct route to the hotel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had a number of hours to kill and I enjoyed
his deviations in to areas I hadn’t seen before.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When he finally got close to the hotel I let
him know that I knew where it was and pointed out the back of the building
which made him realized that I in fact did know the area.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It was hot outside and the taxi of course was not air
conditioned so I headed to the hotel Restaurant/Bar and ordered a cold St.
Georges’ beer and relaxed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I used their
rest room and internet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My flight was
scheduled for 19:00 and I knew that I couldn’t check in before 16:00 so I had a
couple of hours to kill.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">When I finished the beer I left the hotel and walked all
over the city.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At one point my back pack
came unzipped and a magazine fell out as I was walking along by some
stalls.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The people yelled out and I ran
back and picked it up and then realized my jacket was also missing so I started
to back track my route to see if I could find it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>About two blocks from where I discovered it
missing a man ran up and in French was telling me he found it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had to find an interrupter from the guys
sitting in the shade chewing knat to explain to me what he was saying.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He wanted me to pay him to get the jacket and
bring it to me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I told the interrupter
that my money was in the jacket and tell him to lead me to it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He agreed and a block away a group of men
sorting knat had the jacket.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I really
didn’t have any money in it but I checked that everything was there and gave
each guy $5.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I clipped the zipper shut and started walking back towards
the hotel when the man that found me started to ask for more money.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I refused and our discussions drew a
crowd.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I asked the guy if he was a good
Muslim and he said yes he was and then I said that his act of telling me where
the jacket was an act of kindness that his religion taught him and that he
shouldn’t be asking for more money.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An
elderly man in a white Muslim hat in the crowd agreed and scolded the man and
the crowd broke up and I went on my way.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I had tracked my walk on my smart phone and I had walked
every street in the center of the city.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>By the time I reached the hotel I was soaking wet and had another couple
of cold beers in the air conditioned Restaurant/Bar (which led to my catching a
cold).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I checked email and at 15:30 I
retrieved my luggage from the hotel storage room and took a Taxi to the airport
for $12, no hassle.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I was the first to check in for the flight and was given a
pass to the Star Alliance Lounge where I also was the only one for almost an
hour.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was able to plug in and recharge
my smart phone and use my laptop to write in my journal.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Remembering the hassle I had that morning going through
security at the gate I left the lounge a little early.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In front of me we two German Officers in
camouflage uniforms.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The junior officer
set off the alarm and was told to remove his boots which he was not happy
doing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When it came my turn and I set
off the alarm they quickly padded me down and cleared me but they searched my
carry-on and wanted to confiscate my small batteries.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I protested and at least got my case that I
carry them in returned and continued to protest telling that I needed them for
my medical machine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>During my protest a
Djibouti doctor came through and in their native language convinced them to
return my batteries.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I thanked the doctor and engaged him in conversation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He went to school in San Jose, California and
now practices in Phoenix.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was in
Djibouti to invest in real estate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
told me that he was getting outstanding returns on investments in Djibouti.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I then had a discussion with the German
Officer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was the German Military
Attaché to Ethiopia and Djibouti, based in Addis Ababa.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He had recently sat next to Herb Gobles, the
UTS Tour Escort I had traveled with earlier in the year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Herb told him about the Traveler’s Century
Club and was escorting several UTS clients in the area including the same trip
to Mogadishu that I had just returned from.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Small world for World Travelers!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">My seatmate was a US Naval Officer stationed in the Pentagon
on a TDY tour of Naval Aviation Units.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He was on his way from Djibouti to Germany.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The one advantage to traveling by myself is
the increased opportunities to interact with other people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I travel in a group we often are
assigned seats next to each other and sit in the gate waiting rooms talking to
each other and not mixing with the other passengers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Arriving in Addis Ababa I had to buy another single entry
visa for $20.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At least there was a
separate line at Immigration for those that had just purchased a visa so it
didn’t hold me up too long and the luggage from the flight had not
arrived.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When it did they had the bags
with the Star Alliance tag come out on a different carousel than the others.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was also a special line at the Customs
X-Ray machine for Star Alliance Gold so I didn’t have the long wait I had
experienced the previous flight into Addis Ababa.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">They did have me open my luggage again to show them my CPAP
machine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Exiting the Luggage Hall I
found for the first time in three trips that the Harmony Hotel’s booth was
staffed and I was able to take the Hotel Shuttle bus and avoid the hassle with
the taxi rate that I experienced on the last two trips.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The room was the same layout as I had on the previous visit
but on a non-smoking floor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The room had
excellent Internet cable and Wi-Fi signal so I was able to call Judy on
Vonage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I washed clothes, wrote in my
journal and retired.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Monday, November 11,
2013:</b> Fly Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to N’Djamena, Chad<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">My flight to N’Djamena was scheduled for 10:15 so I slept
until six and was able to eat breakfast before checking out and leaving for the
airport at 08:00.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was a long line
checking in for flights.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Star
Alliance/Business Class line was very long and then one of the staff checked
people to see if they were supposed to be in the line.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It thinned out rather quickly when most were
not eligible for the line.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I remarked to
the woman behind me that it is difficult for travelers who don’t read the local
language or English to get in the right lines at airports.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She and her husband were on their way to
Amsterdam via a Frankfurt flight which was the reason for the long lines.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">After getting my boarding pass the line at Immigration was
surprisingly short and I breezed through without a wait and visited the Star
Alliance Lounge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Outside the lounge
there was a big line going through Security.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I decided to leave a little early for my gate and found that the long
Security line was for gates 5 to 10 and I was assigned gate 1 which was at the
end of the terminal and had no long line.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I did have me remove my shoes which I hadn’t had to do for a number of
airports on the trip.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">When it came time to board the aircraft we had to go down
stairs and get on a bus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I took the
escalator and a group of Chinese workers took the stairs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The line to process the boarding passes was
zig zag barriers with the entrance at the bottom of the escalator.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As the group taking the stairs crowded into
the entrance the blocked the people leaving the escalator essentially blocking
the escalator flow which backed up and people were starting to pile on top of
each other and we had to physically push the people from the stairs to the side
which defeated their taking the stairs in the first place.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I reached the agent to process my
boarding pass she asked me to stand aside they had a special bus for the Star
Alliance Gold/Business Class passengers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The plane was packed and I had a window seat so I could see
the city on approach.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unfortunately it
was over the wing so the view was not that great.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They showed US TV shows during the flight,
“Big Bang Theory” and the Mentalist were two that I watched.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lunch was a nice poached fish and wine was
served.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">On arrival we had to fill out a form and stand in the
different lines.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I stood in the shorter
of the two lines for visa holders.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Unfortunately the agent was the slowest and the Chinese workers took
extra time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Eventually I processed
through and my bag was already there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There was a little backup at the Customs x-ray machine because someone
had shipped a number of rugs that were difficult to maneuver through the
machine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My bag passed without incident
and when I exited and was hounded by taxi drivers I took a wild guess and said
I was looking for the Novotel Bus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One
of the porters showed me to the bus and I rode to the hotel by myself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had overheard others tell the Immigration
Agents that they were staying at the Novotel but they didn’t find the bus or
they were being met for business reasons.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I was surprised at the number of US passengers on the flight.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The Novotel is very large but old fashioned with a key lock
and very dated furnishings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wi-Fi was
through a service and didn’t have wide bandwidth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As an example Facebook wouldn’t display,
Vonage didn’t connect and Outlook kept dropping even though I had Excellent
signal strength.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were no power
outlets on the bed headboard side of the room so I had to string two extension
cords together to get power to my CPAP machine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I ended setting up my laptop next to the bed to share the power strip.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I tried to hire an English speaking drive to show me the
sights of the city.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The front desk
claimed to know one but by dark they hadn’t found him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The restaurant did not open until 20:30 so I
went out to the pool and had a pizza and beer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>At one end of the room there was a group of Americans and at the other
end of the room a dozen French.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All the
French were smoking and drinking while the Americans were drinking water.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I took a table next to the Americans.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They started talking about per diem rates so
I figured they might be with the C-130 I saw parked on the ramp when I
landed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since it was Veteran’s Day I
went over and thanked them for their service.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They really appreciated it because nobody had mentioned that it was
Veteran’s Day all day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We chatted a
while and I retired to my room.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">As I walked the corridor to my room I saw where the Wi-Fi
modem was and I went out and tried Vonage and was able to get connected.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Back in the room I updated my journal and then watched some
videos on my laptop and retired at 22:00.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I had planned on washing some clothes and had even requested a second
towel to roll them dry in but when I filled the basin with hot water it was so
rusty I decided against washing clothes in it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Tuesday, November 12,
2013:</b> Tour N’Djamena, Chad, fly to Cairo<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I woke naturally at 07:00 and checked email.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At 07:30 the lights went out in the
room.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was in the bathroom in the
dark.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I returned to my bedroom I
saw that that there was still power to my laptop so I figured it was not a
hotel wide power outage more likely a circuit breaker.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I went down to the lobby and told the
receptionist and he responded that he would send a technician.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The restaurant was just off the lobby so I
ate breakfast and returned to my room to find that the power was still
out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Outside the room was down the hall
there were a number of maids and managers I guess discussing the days
schedule.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I told one of the managers
that I had no power and what appeared to be head of housekeeping asked me to repeat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I guess she was the only one that spoke
English.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She barked orders and three
people arrived at my door to check the power and then left and it was soon
restored and I was able to take a shower in the rusty water.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That ate up my morning so I never did find a
taxi driver that spoke English to give me a quick tour of the city.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was disappointed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Throughout the world whenever you visit a
former French colony you find a real reluctance by the people to even attempt
to communicate in English.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I realize one
should always respect the local language and customs but all ex-Italian and
Portuguese colony’s and Arabic countries I find signs in both the native
language and English and a large percentage of people that can communicate to
some degree in English.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not so in the
ex-French colonies whose menus, museum labels are in French and the local
language.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m dyslexic and have
difficulty in English pronunciation and spelling so there is no hope I can
communicate with French speaking people.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I took the hotel shuttle bus to the airport.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know people need to make money but the
vultures at airports really get on my nerves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Their insisting on helping just makes me nervous.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I want to control my own bags and check-in
process.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At N’Djamena it was worse because
they didn’t understand any English.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If
you are going to prey on elderly tourists at least learn a few words in the
tourist’s language.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In their effort to
help I was pushed ahead of the Economy Class line to an agent that didn’t
understand English and could not enter my Star Alliance number in my
record.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Continental’s instance on using
their identification system which starts with letters in the new United
Airlines just confuses agents at these foreign airports.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was issued boarding passes for my two
flights to Cairo but also for my flight to Sharm El Sheikh and she tagged my
bag to Sharm El Sheikh.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My plan was to
stash my bags at my Cairo Hotel and then fly to Sharm El Sheikh without luggage
so I asked her to correct it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She
printed the luggage tags three times before she got it right.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">At the airport check-in I requested a window seat so I could
at least see the city from the air on climb out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unfortunately my seat was over the wing so I
didn’t have a clear view but it was more than if I was sitting on the
aisle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We landed after dark in Addis
Ababa and I went to the Star Alliance Lounge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>When I was checking into the lounge there was a Swedish man with two
women checking in and the receptionist was telling him he could only have one
guest.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He then asked if they could split
their time in lounge and the receptionist turned to her colleague and started a
discussion in their native language.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A
line had formed behind to get admitted to the lounge so I asked if the third
woman could be my guest.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The two
receptionists looked at each other agreed that I had solved the dilemma.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Swedish man was very happy and praised my
good deed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I told him he could buy me a
drink inside the lounge knowing that they were free anyway.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the lounge I was able to recharge my smart
phone and contact Judy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Remembering problems I had had in the past with gate
security I left the lounge as soon as my smart phone was recharged.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To my surprise there was no line at the gate
security and they didn’t perform a visual check of my carryon so I breezed
through and proceeded to the gate check-in counter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was no one at the gate counter but
there was a counter with an agent in the vicinity of the gate entrance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I asked her if I needed to have a pre-check
which they sometimes performed at Addis Ababa.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>She told me to wait right there and walked over to the gate counter and
made an announcement for passengers flying to Cairo to proceed to the
gate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She then returned as a line formed
in back of me and processed my boarding pass and affixed a green sticker.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ethiopian uses colored stickers rather than
the numbering system to control the boarding on some of their flights.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The flight was late boarding.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I again had a window seat which I like on
night flights so I can rest my head against the wall to sleep.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unfortunately a large man sat next to me in
the middle seat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a little weird
because his traveling companion sat on the aisle on the row in front of us and
the middle and window seat on that row were vacant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I suggested that he move to that row when all
the passengers had gotten on board but he indicated he was in his assigned seat
and stayed there throughout the flight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They served a meal and showed some American TV shows and I slept a
little.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">My visits to all the countries in Africa were complete!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Wednesday, November 13,
2013:</b> Fly Cairo to Sharm El Sheikh, Sinai, Egypt and back <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We landed in Cairo twenty minutes late and I had to purchase
another visa for $15.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had neglected to
request a multi entry visa on my first flight through. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After exiting the baggage area I know why I
hate the Cairo airport because you are hounded by men.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are salesmen trying to sell you a tour,
taxi agents’ trying to get you a taxi and rental car agents.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My plan was to take the Novotel bus to the
hotel, store my luggage and return to the airport on the Novotel bus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had to laugh at the rental car agent that
tried to convince me that I should rent a car to drive to the Novotel, the sign
which you can see from the terminal it’s that close.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whereas in other airports the information
booth is usually staffed by woman that are eager to assist you, at the Cairo
airport it is staffed by men that appear to be constantly conducting personal
business.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They appeared annoyed when I
asked them to call the hotel since I wasn’t sure if they were operating on
their thirty minute schedule at 2AM.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
bus arrived and took me to the hotel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
told the receptionist that I was going to check-in that evening and asked him
if he would store my luggage until then.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The bellman took the bags and I got on the bus back to the airport.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">This time I processed through the Domestic end of the
terminal and actually was on a level above the international level.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Star Alliance Lounge was not open on the
Domestic level.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Right next to my gate
area was a children’s play area with the only power outlet I could find.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I sat in a little kids chair and read a
newspaper until my smart phone was fully charged and then preceeded to the gate
which was down stairs on the same level as the International gates but
separated by a glass wall.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We were bussed to our aircraft, an Embraer-170.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My seat companion was Mike Phillips, an
American from Miami working as a Technical Manager for the Multinational Force
Organization (MFO) tasked to keep the peace in the Sinai.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He had served in the US Army in Iraq and then
become a contractor in Kuwait.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His job
was to program the e-proms on the equipment used by the MFO for the Sinai
environment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Examples are the fuel the
vehicles use in the region does not contain the same mixture of additives as
they do in the states and have to be tuned for the local mixture.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We discussed the political situation in the region.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was of the opinion that the Egyptian
Muslim Brotherhood was a terrorist organization and that the Palestinians’ were
their own worst enemy by their refusal to recognize the state of Israel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He told me of the challenges the MFO had
covering such a large area and how Hamas and other pro Palestine terrorist
groups had become isolated in the Sinai when the Egyptians shut down the
tunnels they used to move in and out of the Gaza strip.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Mike also told me what to expect in Sharm El Sheikh.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He told me the only place open to buy
breakfast was a McDonald’s in a shopping strip not far from the airport.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He also told me that the taxi drivers would
try to overcharge for a ride to the city and in the city beware of the
aggressive shop keepers becoming nasty when you turn them down.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">When we arrived in Sharm El Sheikh we bid farewell and I crossed
the street to the taxi stand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was
a sign with the rates to various destinations posted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When the first taxi quoted four times the
posted rate I moved to the next taxi.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
continued to bargain with different cabbies and despite the posted rate all the
cabbies were united that they wanted more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Their rationale was they had waited all night and slept in their cars
waiting for a plane to arrive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not my
problem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Finally the second taxi agreed
to take me to the McDonald’s for $1 over the posted rate and I agreed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When were arrived he asked for a tip and
since he was not a metered cab and I had no luggage for him to handle I told
him it was included in the rate we agreed on.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">On the road to the city it looked like a mixture of Las
Vegas and Palm Springs with an ocean beach.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Every major brand of hotel had a resort there, several with golf courses
and many of the Las Vegas casino names had casinos there. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The MacDonald’s was opened 24 hours but was
just switching over to breakfast and I had to wait a bit.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">When I finished breakfast I started to walk to the center of
the city.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Down the four-lane divided
boulevard I saw a camel just slowly walking across the boulevard back and forth
stopping in the grassy medium to munch on the short palm trees that lined the
center of the medium.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I stopped at the Novotel and told them I was from the Cairo
airport Novotel and was just in town for the day and what tours would they
recommend.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They gave me a map and
referred me to their tour office on the beach.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I walked through their beautiful property to the beach and found that
the tour office wasn’t open and from the signs it appeared that they were
offering just various boat and water sport tours.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The Marriott Resort was next door and their tour desk was
also closed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I crossed the boulevard and
purchased some drinks at the A2Z store.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The next hotel resort was the Hilton and it had an amusement park
situated in back of it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I noticed a sign
across the boulevard that said “Sun’NFun” so I figured they had tours and they
had the signs for them all discounted but again they weren’t open for
business.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was only 08:00 and it
appeared that the establishments didn’t open until 09:00 or later.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I walked back to the boulevard and headed
again toward the city center when I came upon a sign that said Public Beach.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I walked back to the beach on the “Public Beach” road and
found a paved lane along the beach with no walls between resort
properties.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The lane was lined with open
air restaurant/bars and tourist vendor stalls and shops.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I stopped to use a W.C. at a “Dive Shop”
which was very active outfitting their first group of the day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A few restaurants away on the lane I saw a
Free Wi-Fi sign and a man setting up the cushions in the open air bar.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I asked him if I could use the Wi-Fi and he
said OK and typed in the password on my phone.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">After checking my email, catching up on the news of the
world and updating my Google map of the city, I thanked the man and walked on
toward the center of the city.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I came upon an open area with a big parking lot lined with various
vendors and restaurants.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was a big
Hard Rock Café, next to a T.G.I. Fridays, next to a Pizza Hut, and then a
KFC.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I crossed the road after checking
out a 1950’s era pink Ford sedan in front of the Hard Rock Café and came upon a
Chili’s which had both indoor and outdoor seating.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I stopped to checkout a stand with a row of
power outlets when a man on a balcony over the restaurant called out a
hello.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I asked if I could plug in my
smart phone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He replied wait and came
down and unplugged a drink box and told me to use that outlet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He then sat with me and had a long talk.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was from Cairo and could find work there
so he commutes to Sharm El Sheikh to work in the Chili’s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He had just one wife and three children.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He wanted to know why Americans were not
visiting Egypt any more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I told him that
the Travel Agencies were not scheduling trips because they are afraid of the
demonstrations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We talked for about
thirty minutes and then I unplugged my charger, thanked him and walked on.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">When I reached the main boulevard there was a large taxi
parking area and a Tourist Police Station.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I was hounded by taxi drivers and after waving them off was asked by a
by stander where I was from and then he too asked why Americans are not
visiting Sharm El Sheikh like they did before.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I repeated that the Tour Agencies are not scheduling tours because they
don’t think the country is safe.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
argued that they get tourists from Russia and European countries but he likes
Americans and wish they would return.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
discussed briefly the negative impression the US has of the Muslim Brotherhood
and how we don’t think that Morsi should have tried to implement strict Muslim
beliefs into the country’s constitution.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He agreed and hoped the political situation would get better so American
tourists would return.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We then parted
and I continued my walk.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I returned to the hotel area and checked with the Marriott
Tour Desk and discovered the one tour that I wanted to take was to Ras Mohamed
National Park had already left.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bad timing
– first they weren’t open then the tours for the day had left.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He told me most people reserve the day
before.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I continued on to the Novotel where I ate their buffet
lunch.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was nice to have a salad bar
with ripe tomatoes, iceberg lettuce and other goodies of my own choice. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Before lunch they let me start charging my
smart phone in their Business Center.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>After lunch I retrieved the phone and continued my walking around the
area.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At one point I returned to the
“Sun’NFun” where I engaged in an hour long conversation with Ahmed, one of the
Tour salesmen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He also wanted to know
why the Americans were not returning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
repeated to him what I told the others.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We discussed the Muslim religion and other religions that try to impose
their beliefs on others while some of the most populist religions in the world such
as Buddhists don’t.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We discussed the
treatment of Females in the Muslim religion and of homosexuals and how they
many of the American Christian Right have the similar beliefs but don’t go
around blowing up people that don’t agree with them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Extreme beliefs in any religion and any
country should be between the individual and his religious leaders and not try
to impose them on others.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We discussed the political situation in Egypt and I pointed
out that it took the United States 13 years after starting the Revolution
before it elected its first President and several years later for it to add the
Bill of Rights to the Constitution.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
countries that ousted their dictatorial leaders during the “Arab Spring” should
not be in such a big hurry to get it right that they start fighting each other
again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It takes time and
compromise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Something the United States
can also be impatient with.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Sharm El Sheikh is an interesting resort with lots to do,
great beaches and diving but I’ll remember it best meeting and having lengthy
discussions with its people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was an
interesting visit.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I returned to the Novotel and recharged my smart phone
reading newspapers as I waited.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The sun
had set and I had an 20:45 flight so at 18:00 I took the Novotel airport car to
the airport for $12.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I was dropped
off at the front of the terminal a bus had just discharged a large group and I
thought what bad timing I had to have to queue up behind them and then I
noticed they were going in the International Departure door and I needed to go
in the Domestic Departure Door where there was no line.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I quickly obtained my boarding pass and
processed through security.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They had no
Star Alliance Lounge but I was given a chit for a free drink at the café down
stairs in the waiting area.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I obtained my drink and was looking to see if a small plane
was on the ramp when I noticed that there was another flight to Cairo posted on
the board that was earlier than mine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Looking around for someone from Egypt Air I saw two men in business
suits with Egypt Air/Star Alliance pins on their lapels.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I asked them if I could change my flight and
one said sure and had me take an elevator upstairs and he vouch me through
security to the check-in counter and to the head of the line and talked to the
agent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I hadn’t shown him my boarding
pass and my Star Alliance card.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
issued a new boarding pass with my Star Alliance number printed on it which the
other one didn’t have.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I then breezed
through security again and returned to the gate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When the time to board was announced I
happened to be standing right at the gate trying to see the tail numbers of the
plane so I was the first one processed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I was about to board the bus when the ticket agent ran down to me and
told me my ticket was for a different flight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I was escorted back in to the gate counter where I explained to another
agent that “yes, I was booked on the 20:45 flight but then rebooked on the
19:15 flight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The agent called someone
on the phone and told me to wait.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
took what seemed a very long time for the agent to appear and tell me the plane
Business Class was full.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I told him I
was in Economy Class.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then there was a
big discussion between agents at the gate counter and finally they hand wrote a
boarding pass and allowed me on the bus.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The plane took off twenty minutes late because of me but
landed only five minutes late.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since it
was a Domestic flight I didn’t have to go through any processing to get out to
the main lobby and up the stairs to wait for the Novotel Shuttle Bus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A man standing at the Shuttle Bus area asked
me which hotel I was going to and when I told him it was the Novotel he told me
he was the Novotel driver for single passengers and led me to his car.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I said “wait a minute you’re a taxi driver
and I am not paying to go to the hotel when the bus is free”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He said “no the car is free for single
passengers, the want ten people for the bus”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I asked to confirm again that the car was free and he said yes so I got
in and started to the hotel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As we
approached the toll booths where you exit the airport the driver told me that I
had to pay the toll.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I told him: “no
way, you told me it was free and if it is not take me back to the
terminal”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He kept arguing that the car
was free but I needed to pay the toll.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>When he realized I wasn’t going to pay he reversed direction in the toll
booth plaza and started driving back to the terminal in oncoming traffic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fortunately there were very few cars and we
made it back to the terminal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I kept
telling him to be honest and tell passengers the truth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He dropped me off and I went in and down
stairs to the Information Booth where the men were conducting their private
business and finally got one to call the hotel to determine when the next bus
was due.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The 21:30 bus was departing
soon and they would tell the driver to look for me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When the bus arrived the driver recognized me
and asked me “how was Sharm El Sheikh?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I responded that I had an “interesting day” and left it at that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I checked into the hotel asking for a non-smoking room.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They assigned me a room at the end of a very
long hallway 40 rooms from the elevator next to a construction area to install
additional elevators.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I dropped my back
pack it the room and went down to eat a light meal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I saw the chef making small pizzas and a man at
a table was having a salad with tomato and iceberg lettuce so I told the
waitress I wanted a salad like he had, plus oil and balsamic vinegar and a
small pizza.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It seemed like it took a long time but finally I got the
salad and it was delicious and they didn’t serve the pizza until I finished the
salad (I would have liked to have both at the same time).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The pizza was not cheese melting hot and the
pepperoni was not round but red strips without a spicy taste.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had violated my own rule.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Order what is native to the country.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Pizza is not one of this Egyptian chief’s expertises.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">When I returned to my room I found the Internet cable
missing so I used my own and discovered that even though I was connected I
could not get any internet apps to work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I turned on the TV and it didn’t work so I figured there was a wiring
problem to my room, most likely due to the construction next door.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It had been 36 hours since I had slept in a bed so I called
it a night without updating my journal.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Thursday, November
14, 2013:</b> Fly Cairo, Egypt to Gran Canaria, Canary Islands via Casablanca,
Morocco<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">My flight to leave Cairo for Casablanca was scheduled for
09:10. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since I had my boarding pass I knew
the routine at the Cairo airport I decided to eat breakfast in the hotel and
take the 07:00 shuttle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I arrived
at the airport I had a little difficulty finding the Star Alliance Gold
check-in counter.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">When I did find the right counter I tried to check my bag and
the agent told me my reservation had been cancelled.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I showed her my e-ticket and she conferred
with her supervisor and they sent me to another agent at the trouble desk who
then conferred with a colleague and then called in a manager who asked me a lot
of question concerning the boarding pass I already had issued in Sharm El
Sheikh the night before.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Eventually they
issued a new boarding pass to Casablanca but for some reason they couldn't
figure out, they couldn't check my bag on the Canary Islands.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was getting close to flight time so I told
them check it to Casablanca and I would retrieve it and check it for the Canary
Island flight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With a valid boarding
pass and luggage tag in hand I asked the manager what had happened.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He speculates that when I changed my flight
to an earlier flight in Sharm El Sheikh they recorded me as a
"no-show" on my scheduled flight's record instead of changing it to
the flight I took.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the airline
computer systems once you don't show for a flight all the flights after that
are cancelled.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Anyway I got on the flight and had a whole row to myself and
had an enjoyable flight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In Casablanca I
started to have trouble again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>First at
Passport Control where I told them I was transit but had to retrieve my bag and
get a boarding pass and check my bag to Gran Canaria.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He finally let me pass and I retrieved my bag
and then went to the Check-in Hall and didn't find my flight listed on the board.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I talked to an important looking agent and
she went to a terminal and reported back that the flight had been
cancelled.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(That explains why the Cairo
agent could check my bag through to Gran Canaria).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I asked when the next flight to Gran Canaria
was scheduled and she didn't know but lead me to a special ticket office in
another area of the Terminal. (Terminal 1)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I met with an agent that told me the next scheduled flight
was not until Saturday and would arrive after my flight from Gran Canaria to
Madeira departs so I was really up a creek without a paddle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She made some calls and received some
alternatives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One was spend the night in
Casablanca and fly to Gran Canaria via Malaga on Friday.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That sounded OK by me and she started to
create the paperwork for a hotel voucher and the new itinerary when the phone
rang and she told me they she informed her that there was a flight leaving for
Tenerife North in less than an hour and I could then take a ferry to Gran
Canaria.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She printed the new ticket and
told me to rush back to Terminal 2 where I found out my flight had been
cancelled.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She said I had just ten
minutes to check in.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I rushed to Terminal 2 and was told there had been a change
and the flight was now leaving from Terminal 1 so I rushed back past the
Special Ticket Office and was told I had to go down to another level to check
in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I found an elevator to take my
trolley with bags down to a set of counters. I attempted to check in at the
first open agent which was a Business Class Agent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She refused to check me in and told me the
flight check in time had passed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was
not a happy camper getting run around like that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was soaking wet from sweat and I raised my
voice a little and a Supervisor came over to see why I was unhappy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I explained the situation he gave an
Economy Class Agent the OK to check me in for the flight but told me I had to
hurry to my gate.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I ran up the stairs to Passport Control and Security and
then back down a set of stairs to the assigned gate where they were making the
final call to board the bus to the plane.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I had made with no time to spare.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I was assigned a window seat with no one around me the flight was almost
empty.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was looking out the window at a
building with a VIP sign on it when I saw an entourage ride up in a series of
government vehicles; the group then boarded a bus and rode to our plane.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the bottom of the stairs leading to our
plane one of the men started talking and a group of women started to tape his
words and a cameraman taped the speech.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Two of the VIPs didn't sit in First Class and instead sat in the row
behind me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">At one point during the flight I smelled cigarette smoke and
mentioned it to the Flight Attendant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The VIP in back of me said that it couldn't happen and may be from a
cleaning crew.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The other VIP asked me
where I was from and relayed my answer to the first VIP.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He then explained that in First Class was the
Moroccan Minister of Tourism and the man sitting behind me was the Royal Air
Maroc General Manager of Public Affairs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The others up front were press and the Publicity Agent from
Tenerife.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They wanted to know how I had
heard about the flight since it was a new route they just started hence the VIP
and press on board.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were fascinated
with my telling them my situation and how I had visited every country in
Africa. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They then had me interviewed by
the Tenerife Publicity Agent who in turn had the press corps interview me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They bombarded me with questions, asking me
which African country I liked best.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
gave them my stock answer that each country has its own personality and its
plusses and minuses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The Tenerife Publicity Agent was disappointed that I was
going on to Gran Canaria to spend the night.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>She also talked about how important the new Royal Air Maroc flights from
Casablanca was for Tenerife and how they hoped to get Royal Air Maroc to
schedule flights to and from New York to Tenerife.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The publicity was kind of fun but I still
needed to get from Tenerife to my hotel in Gran Canaria.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">On the approach into Tenerife I saw a lot of wind
generators, similar to what I had observed in Morocco, Portugal and Spain.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I was told at the Tenerife Airport Information Booth that I
had two options: either a four hour ferry ride or a thirty minute flight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I took the flight option and was directed to
the Binter Canarias Sales Office where I purchased a ticket for about $70.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They flew about every thirty minutes between
the islands.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I flew on the 17:30 flight and had to take a $40 taxi ride
to my hotel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is a fancy resort but I
arrived in the dark so I didn’t get a chance to check it out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wi-Fi in the room was weak and Vonage
couldn’t connect.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At 20:00 I went to the
restaurant and found they only served a buffet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They had a dress code and the Head Waiter had to seat you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It reminded me of a Cruise Ship for dress
code, the seating and the buffet was very similar to the mid-day meals on a
cruise ship.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had a nice salad of my
own design, a trout fillet and for the first time on the trip a small ice
cream. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">After dinner I washed my clothes and my ball cap.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was a strong wind so I hung them on my
balcony and wrote up the day’s experience and sent it out in an email.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At midnight I went out in the hall and found
the Wi-Fi modem and standing under it I finally got Vonage to connect.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was not a clear connection and Judy was in
a department store that I knew didn’t have strong signals so It was a short
call.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I returned to my room and found my
clothes had dried; I hung them inside in case of rain and retired without
setting an alarm.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Friday, November 15,
2013:</b> Gran Canaria, Canary Islands<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I must have been tired because I slept until 10.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lucky the breakfast buffet didn’t close until
11:00 so I was able to eat breakfast and then return to the room to shower and
shave.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I dressed in my swim suit sandals
and t-shirt and armed with my camera walked around the resort grounds to the
sea and then around the neighborhood.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Around 14:00 I went to the swimming pool snack bar and had a
nice homemade salad.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It started to cloud
over so I returned to my room and wrote in my journal, finishing documenting
the last days in Africa.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">With most of the hotel guests at the pool or other
activities the Internet bandwidth was better and I was able to call Judy around
16:00.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A few hours later when I emailed
my journal I received a message from Judy that I had gotten confused on the
dates for the Thanksgiving trip to NJ.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
had to rebook with United and couldn’t get the same flights.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The return will be via Chicago.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am glad she caught my error.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I had a rather late dinner nothing special except I could
make my own salad.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I returned to my room
and called Hertz to change my reservation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It was funny because I got an agent quicker than when I call from the
states.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And then I went on to bed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Saturday, November
16, 2013:</b> Fly Gran Canaria, Canary Islands to Funchal, Madeira Island<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">My flight to the Madeira Islands was scheduled for 15:10 so
I didn’t set an alarm and slept until 09:00.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I had a leisurely breakfast and took my time showering and packing and
all of a sudden it was noon and checkout time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>At checkout I asked if the hotel provided shuttle service to the
airport.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They didn’t but they told me city
bus number 66 went to the airport and the bus stop was near the airport.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I wheeled my bags through a car parking lot, up a slope to
the bus stop.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I checked the schedule and
bus 66 was on an hourly schedule and I had to wait until 12:38.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The bus was late arriving and the driver
motioned to me to store my luggage underneath on the driver side of the
bus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I wheeled my bags around the
front of the bus I found the luggage compartment doors open and the compartment
very full.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was able to re-arrange bags
to fit mine in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I returned to the other
side and entered the bus and paid the fare of 3.50€ as opposed to the 32.50€
taxi fare.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was worth the wait.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The driver motioned for me to sit in the
front row next to a woman with a young boy in her lap.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We had no other stops on the way to the airport.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The boy was very restless and I guessed that
until I took the seat next to his mother that he had probably been sitting
there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the airport I was the first
off and I grabbed a trolley and was able to remove my luggage before a crowd
formed to get theirs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">When I entered the terminal it was very crowded with very
long lines at each check-in counter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They didn’t use the Disney type zig zag lines because each counter was
for a different flight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the display
board I found my flight’s counter number and it was like walking through a
canyon with long line of people on both sides and no one at my flight’s
counter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was one of the fastest
check-ins on the trip.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Because of the single check-in counter for each different
flight not very many passengers were processed at the same time so document
check and security check didn’t have long lines.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I then proceeded up stairs and was back into
the crowds again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wasn’t eligible for
a lounge on this flight so I went in search of a place to have lunch.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was a third level where there was an
Irish Bar with Boston Red Sox, Bruins and Patriot memorabilia on the
walls.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The only food they served was hot
dogs plus it was a smoking area so despite wanting to eat under Red Sox
memorabilia and returned to the second level where I bought a fresh ham and
cheese baguette.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We were bussed to our aircraft a Dash 8 Q400 and had open
seating.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was configured differently
than the other Dash 8 Q400’s I had recently flown in that it had boarding in
both the front and the rear.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Several of
the front row seats were folded down and the flight attendant motioned for me
to sit beside one and then instructed the passengers boarding after me to move
to the rear. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The flight only took a
little over an hour.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we approached
the island I again saw a number of wind generators.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Processing at the airport was quick and I saw that there was
an airbus service.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I asked the driver if
his route was near my hotel and he said yes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I boarded and paid the fare and waited.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There were only two other passengers on the bus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One was a young man born in Sherman Oaks to Belgian
parents.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He moved to Belgium when he
started school but his family still owns a house in Sherman Oaks and returns to
California frequently.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He likes the US
better than Europe and hopes to one day move back to LA.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He had traveled a lot in Africa and we
discussed the pros and cons of some the countries we have visited.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His hotel was located in the city center near
where the other passenger was discharged.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I was then alone in the bus as we drove along the coast.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The area had a very steep slope down to a
cliff overlooking the sea.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was
discharged a block from my hotel another Melia hotel, the Melia Madeira Mare, which
was built on the steep slope.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Reception
was on the third level and the restaurant on the zero level.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was assigned a room on the seventh floor.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I dumped my bags in the room and returned to reception to
get literature on the island tours.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
decided my best bet was to take the two different “hop-on, hop-off” tours the
next day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They covered the general area
along the coast from Funcahal to Camara de Lobos.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Next to set out to explore the hotel and the
surrounding area.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I discovered that
there was three levels of the building below the hotel on the slope.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the bottom of the slope were a vehicle
turn around and a view point for a rock formation off the coast.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From the turn around there were paths leading
along the coast in both directions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
took the south path and found that the neighboring hotels were built similarly
with shops or restaurants on the path level.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The sun was starting to set so I returned to the hotel and
unpacked.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I went down for dinner and
found it cost 28€ ($38) and it was Italian theme night with different types of
pasta and pizza.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I didn’t see the value
so I walked across the street and climbed stairs to a terrace restaurant on a
cliff.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There I had a nice meal for 10€.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Just as I finished and was waiting to pay my bill it started
to rain lightly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Good timing, and I was
back in my hotel without getting wet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The Wi-Fi was just “Good” in the room so I had to go to the lobby to
call Judy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I could still process most
email in my room.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I watched a little TV news and learned that the fighting
between the Libyan Militias and the government had escalated on Friday and the
people were taking action to block the Militias from moving into the city.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a shame what Gaddafi did to that
country.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Sunday, November 17,
2013:</b> Tour Funchal, Madeira Island<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I slept late and went to the hotel breakfast.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It wasn’t the best buffet, similar to the other
Melia hotel. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After breakfast I showered
and shaved and then went to the Yellow Bus Tour office a block up the street to
purchase tickets.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was Sunday and the
office was closed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was afraid that tours
would not be running on Sunday so I returned to the hotel receptionist and
asked if the tours ran on Sunday.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
told me they did and he could sell me a ticket.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>So I bought one and returned to the Yellow Bus Tour office and then on
to the next stop on the route.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There a
Yellow Bus Tour Agent standing at the bus sign.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>She told me a bus was due any minute.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>When the bus came she told me that I had to show my ticket from the
hotel to the driver so he can convert it into a “hop on, hop off” ticket.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I boarded the bus, converted the ticket and
was handed a cheap headset. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The bus was
a double decker like a London double decker.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">All the seats had a transmitter to plug the headset into and
a dial to select the language to listen to.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The transmitter on the seat I selected was inoperative.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All the other upstairs seats were occupied.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I plugged in to the next seat and found that they
transmitted mostly music and only a occasionally a few facts about buildings or
sites.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had boarded a Blue route
bus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It followed the coast past the
cruise terminal when there were two cruise ships docked, one from NCL and the
other from MSC, to the base of the cable car.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There the route turned away from the port and wound its way through the
city center and up the slope to the northeast past the Farmer’s Market and
turned around under the cable and back down the hill to the center of the city
and then west past a shopping center, the Madeira Casino and then turned up a
hill and the followed the coast at a higher level past the Forum Shopping
Center and west to the Camara de Lobos village, past the Forum Shopping Center
and west to the Camara de Lobos village.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The village was a picturesque place with a fishing port and places to
eat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From the village the bus rode up to
a vista point and then reversed direction back through the village and followed
the coast back to the city center.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I hopped off and walked the streets around city on the
streets the bus didn’t pass.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was a
market area and I walked past the various vendors, the cathedral, justice
building and other landmarks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I stopped
to eat lunch is a little shop that baked the Madeira traditional bread and had
a ham and cheese sandwich made from fresh baked bread.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was delicious!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">After lunch I walked back to the center of the city and
hopped on a yellow route bus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The route
started as from the same point as the blue route but traveled up the slope to
the northwest and back on a higher level route and then further up the hills
past the football (soccer) stadium and then wound further up the slope and then
down a steep hill back to the coast.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
hopped off at the coast and walked back to my hotel along the promenade.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">By the time I reached my hotel room I was soaking wet so
washed out my underwear and laid it out in the sun on a chair on my
balcony.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By dinner time it had dried and
I walked across the street to have diner in another of the restaurants perched
on the cliff in front of the hotel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In
order to get to the restaurants entrance I had to climb a set of multilevel
stairs between buildings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the entrance
I was greeted by a greeter that served me a shot of sweet wine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The restaurant served a three course dinner
for 12.50€.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I selected a salad, a small
steak with béarnaise sauce and a cup of strawberry and vanilla ice cream.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a good meal for the price and a lot
cheaper than the hotel buffet.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">On the way back to my room I stopped at the Reception and
made arrangements for a taxi to take me to the airport at 03:00.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I set my alarm for 01:00 and was in bed
before 20:00.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Monday, November 18,
2013:</b> Fly Funchal, Maderia Island to LAX via Lisbon and London<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I woke to the alarm at 01:00 and showered, shaved and
packed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At 03:00 I checked out and my
taxi driver arrived.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It turned out it
was a young lady Mercedes limo driver.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The ride to the airport took longer than I expected.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I guess I was so engaged in conversation on
the bus I didn’t realize how far from the city the airport was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I entered the terminal I found a large
empty room with a line at one counter and no agent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the screen it listed my flight and
counters 7&8.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Next to 8 was a Star Alliance
sign so I pushed my trolley over there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>An agent appeared and told the people in line to line up in front of
counter 7 and she would be checking people in at 03:40.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She turned to me and asked me if I was a Gold
card holder and when I showed her my card she told me to line up in front of
counter 8.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She then went about loading
the boarding pass and baggage tag printers and placing various things on the
two counter desks.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">At 03:40 she stood behind the counter and motioned me over
and processed my ticket, tagging my bag to LAX.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>She told me there was a Star Alliance Lounge on the third floor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was the first one processed and the first
one through security.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I got to the
third floor the lounge was not open.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
sat down to wait and as soon as I did the door opened so I got up and entered
the lounge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They had Wi-Fi but not much
to eat or drink.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I was in the lounge for about an hour and about a dozen
passengers came in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The receptionist
told us when to report to the gate. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
were bussed to the plane and my assigned seat was the last row on the
aircraft.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a little over one hour
flight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We were served a sandwich roll
and a small bottle of pear nectar in a open cardboard box.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The sandwich roll was placed in the container
in a vertical position.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had never seen
an in-flight meal served like that before.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">When we landed in Lisbon a lot of the passengers in the rear
lined up thinking they could exit through the rear door but we were parked at a
Skybridge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was facing the front at the
very rear trying to motion to the crowd facing me to turn around because they
were not aware that we had to exit through the front door.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had time to kill so it didn’t bother me but
I thought it was kind of funny.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Since Madeira to Lisbon was considered a domestic flight I
had no processing to do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was following
the signs for Flight Connection and found the Star Alliance Lounge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There I was able to recharge my smart
phone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The gate for my flight to
Heathrow was a advertised 16 minute walk from the lounge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I headed out an hour before departure and by
the time I got to the gate area they had already called the flight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We were bussed to the plane a long way from
the terminal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was on the secord bus
and the overheads were already full in the area of my row eight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The people had not been very efficient in
storing their belongings in the overhead.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Row eight was just the fourth row in coach and I saw the bin the split
between the business and coach seats was full of blankets and pillows so I
handed out some to those already seated and made room for my carry on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had a aisle seat and a couple from Orange
County were seated next to me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I helped
them find room for their bags by re-arranging the items stored in the overheads
around our area.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The inflight meal was
the same sandwich roll that I had on the previous flight but this time with
peach nectar.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">At Heathrow I followed the signs for connecting flights.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had to process through security.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They had a full body scan but I still had to
first pass through the x-ray before I could use and since I set off the alarm I
had to remove my shoes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A weird
process.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After the full body scan I was
still patted down.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I left security
I came upon a sign that said all United and Air New Zealand passengers had to
get a new boarding pass.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I still had the
seat assignment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Star Alliance
Lounge was a short distance from the counter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In there I was able to charge my smart phone, check email and write in
my journal.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The Air New Zealand gate was a very long distance from the
lounge so I left early.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They had not
started to board anybody when I got there and just as I took a picture of the
plane to record its tail letters they opened up for early boarding and Gold
card holders so I walked on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a
B-777 and I was assigned an inside aisle with nobody next to me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was a power outlet in the back of every
seat so I hooked up my laptop and smart phone and was able write some journal entries.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The video display was unlike any I had seen before.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It had screens for the flight which displayed
a time line for food service, cabin lights and other useful information.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The food service displayed the meal
choices.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Between meals passengers could
order snacks and drinks from their seat and the order is displayed on a monitor
in the galley for delivery by a flight attendant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was the most sophisticated airline video I
have ever seen.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The flight was uneventful.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>When I landed in Los Angeles the plane was docked at Terminal 2.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I hadn’t processed through Immigration and
Customs before in Terminal 2.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was my
second time to use the Global Entry system.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>When I used the Global Entry kiosk it only printed out my picture and
none of the other details.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fortunately I
had filled out a Customs Declaration on the flight so with just the picture and
the declaration the Immigration Agent was able to process me through.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My bag arrived and the Car Service driver was
waiting with a sign.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We encountered a
traffic jam on the way to Woodland Hills just to make me realize I was back in
LA but the trip was over so it didn’t really bother me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It had been a long trip and the longest solo trip I had
taken in my quest to visit every country in the UN.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am glad it was over.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">I completed visiting all 54 UN
countries in Africa.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The trip took 37
days, visiting 30 cities in 24 countries taking 32 flights on 18 different
airlines.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
Edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03034021752003929779noreply@blogger.com0