CHINA and CAMBODIA TOUR - JULY and AUGUST 2007

Day 0 Saturday, July 14, 2007

Saturday morning we were picked up by the Prime Time van with a driver from Bhutan who told us his thoughts on what we should expect on our trip, especially on our visit to Tibet.  The next passenger we picked up was the keyboard player for the Jefferson Airplane.  He is a native of Hampden, Connecticut and attended college at North Texas State – thus we had a lot in common with similar experiences of being a Connecticut Yankee at a Texas college.  He loved my telling him about Bob’s involvement with the Woodstock and Altamont Rock Concerts.  Especially the latter since it was one of the members of the Jefferson Airplane who got knocked out trying to break up the fight between the fans and the Hell’s Angels that Bob had hired to guard the stage at Altamont.

Our flight was delayed one hour at LAX because of the typhoon that was passing through Japan on Saturday.  Otherwise, it was uneventful to Narita.  Northwest allowed us in their Club as we had a several hour layover for our flight to Shanghai.  The new Shanghai International Airport is an hour’s drive from the city so with the weather delays and such it was close to midnight local time before we arrived at our hotel.

We stayed at the Park Hotel which was built in the early 1930’s as the tallest building in Shanghai overlooking the old Shanghai Race track (now the People’s Park). 

Overseas Adventure Tours (OAT) had a local guide meet us at the airport and explain the setup for our tour.

Day 1 Monday, July 16, 2007

We had a buffet breakfast in the Hotel on Monday morning (we lost Sunday crossing the International Dateline on our flight).  It is a mixture of Western, Chinese and Japanese breakfast selections from eggs and bacon to salad and Miso soup.  Our OAT tour guide met us at 8:50.  His name is Scottie and he has an excellent command of the English language and a very outgoing personality.  There are three other couples and a single man in the OAT group at our hotel.  They are:

·         Allen and Alice Peterson, a school teacher couple from Spokane, WA, Allen recently retired from teaching grade school at Fairchild AFB.

·         Harvey & Patti Iglarsha.  Harvey is a College Professor at Georgetown University and Patti recently retired from the Federal Government and is now an amateur artist.

·         Bob Koehnke and Jayne Collier.  Newlyweds (April 2007) from Cortez, FL.  Bob is a retired Elementary School Principal and Jayne is a retired biochemist.  Bob is now a professional Piano Player under the name of Bob King.

·         Bruce Bolton, semi-retired Charity Fund Administrator from South Beach, Miami Beach, FL.

We were joined by another similar size OAT group staying at a different hotel.  That group includes a businessman from Canoga Park traveling with a woman from Fall River, Mass. (they met on a previous OAT tour in Africa), a Portuguese couple from Fall River, MA who recently retired after owning a Portuguese Grocery Store in Fall River and another teacher couple from Visalia, CA.

Our first tour stop was the Yuyan Garden.  It was a beautiful representation of the way the wealthy people lived centuries ago.  It displays the architecture and furnishings of the various dynasties.  Adjacent to the Garden is a shopping area that had as its main attraction a large Starbucks Café.  We found Starbucks in every area of the city – right up there with MacDonald’s, Pizza Hut and KFC.  After a short time to explore the shops adjacent to Starbucks we boarded the bus for a drive to the suburbs where we had lunch at a middle-class family’s home.  They served us 21 different dishes – it was amazing what she cooked for us in her small kitchen.  We were all stuffed when we re-boarded the bus for the trip back to the hotel.  The afternoon was set aside for exploration on our own but Judy and I lay down for a short nap and awoke three hours later just in time to attend our scheduled dinner in the hotel dining room.  It was another multi dish culinary experience but it did not measure up to the home-cooked lunch.

After dinner, Judy and I took a long walk down Nanjing Road which is the major shopping street in Shanghai open only to pedestrians and a funky trolley.  There are many large department stores lining the street and small shops in the side streets – a shopper’s paradise!  Although the hotel is on Nanjing Road in order to cross a major intersection to get to the area that is only for pedestrians you have to enter the People’s Park and take a tunnel under the intersection to get to the pedestrian area.

Day 2 Tuesday, July 17, 2007

We had breakfast with Bob and Jayne, the couple from Cortez, Florida.  He is an accomplished piano player and after retiring as a school principal in Chicago he plays the piano in a Sarasota night club every Friday night that he is not traveling.  All the people we have talked to on the tour have extensive travel mostly with Grand Circle or OAT.

Our tour on day 2 started with a walk along the edge of the river in the Bund area of Shanghai.  The scene across the river is one of the magnificent large buildings all constructed since 1990.  We have seen many photos taken prior to 1990 that show no building over two stories high on the east side of the river across from the Bund area.  In the Bund area on the west side of the river, there is a major contrast with a row of large buildings in European style 70 to 100 years old.  Many are banks built by the Europeans when they controlled the area of Shanghai after the Opium War.  We visited the bank of Hong Kong which has a magnificent display on its ceiling.   Unfortunately, they don’t allow pictures taken.  I was particularly interested in the Bank because a colleague of mine when I worked at Nucleus International spent WWII living in the bank because his father was the Bank Manager and after the war broke out they were not allowed to return to their home in Hong Kong.  He told me stories of having to take an elevator to reach their apartment in the bank building that also serviced the Nazi Officers Club that was located on the top floor of the bank.

The next stop was a visit to the Shanghai Museum which has displays of Costumes, Pottery, Gems, Coins and other relics depicting the history of China.  After a Mongolian Barbecue lunch in a local restaurant (it was very similar to the Mongolian Barbecues we have in the States – you fill your bowl with meat, vegetables, and sauces and take it a window where they cook it and return it to you at the next window).  After lunch, we returned to the museum area where Scottie, our guide, gave us the option to take a walking tour of the neighborhood, remain on the bus to either return to the museum or return to the hotel.  Judy took the latter and I joined Scottie’s walking tour.  The tour took us past old houses that have been covered to upscale restaurants and then into the back alleys of houses that have not been converted.  I was surprised by the clean alleyway but the smell and the backyards of the houses were more like I expected.  Scottie then led us on a several mile walk back to the hotel.  Along the way I left the group to shop in an Electronic Store full of small, laptop, camera and cell phone vendors, to purchase a security cable for my laptop.  There must have been 50 vendors in swap meet style stalls.  I had no trouble finding a cable with a key – but not one that had a combination lock.  I also purchased some accessories for my camera.

I arrived back at the hotel soaking wet from the heat and humidity – took a shower and a nap before going to dinner on our own. 

Harvey and Patti recommended a local restaurant around the corner from the hotel that had an English menu with pictures so you had some idea what you were ordering.  Judy had a chicken hot pot, which she really liked and I had a large bowl of clams in garlic sauce – outstanding!    Judy had a difficult time getting a fork to eat her meal, I had a fun time eating small clams from their shells with chopsticks.  We needed to find out what the Chinese word for fork is. We really enjoyed our meal up to the point where people at the next table started smoking.  We had forgotten how it can ruin the pleasure of a meal.

After the meal we walked down Nanjing Dong Lu.  One block east of the Park Hotel is Xizang Zhong Lu, a major boulevard running North/South past the east side of the People’s Park.  It is so wide that to cross the boulevard requires an underground passageway.  On the other side Nanjing Dong Lu is the “shoppers’ paradise”, closed to vehicular traffic.  We walked through the huge Shanghai No. 1 Department Store and stopped on the 5^th floor at a Starbuck’s for a iced coffee.

The neon signs on the street give you the impression of Hong Kong or Las Vegas.

Day 3 Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Today we took an Optional Tour to the city of Suzhou, a city on the “Grand Canal” which was built in 400 BC to link the Yangtze to the Yellow River and Shanghai to Beijing.  Suzhou is around 70 miles west of Shanghai and we arrived mid-morning on a very hot and humid day at the big attraction in the city – the Humble Administrator’s Garden which is an excellent example of the way the wealthy Chinese lived up to the early 1900’s.

The next stop was the Suzhou Silk Museum which shows the production of silk from the Mulberry trees, the cocoons and the mills.  Of course there was an adjacent store where you could buy silk goods.  Bed spread comforters were a popular item.  This was followed by lunch and a river boat trip around the canal before returning to the hotel.

Judy was on a quest for tourist type t-shirts with Shanghai on them for the grandchildren and had not been able to find any in the shops along Nanjing Dong Lu we had visited at night.  After asking around we told we were looking at the wrong end of the street and we set out to traverse the street to the west of the hotel and sure enough we discovered a store with dozens of t-shirt stalls and found what she wanted.  The temperature was setting a record as the hottest July 18^th in the history of Shanghai – again we were soaked when we returned to the hotel.

Dinner was again on our own.  We dined alone in a restaurant recommended by our guide.  Judy again had difficulty getting a fork but a group of young men at a nearby table were able to translate her wishes to the waitress.

Day 4 Thursday, July 19, 2007

What fun we had repacking our suitcases and checking out of the hotel.  Scottie gave us until 11AM.  Our tour was to the village of Zhu Jia Jiao which is southwest of Shanghai.  Zhu Jia Jiao is known for producing the best rice in Southeast China.  It is also a city of Canals more like Venice than Suzhou.  Some the areas can only be reached by boat and the series of Canals result in narrow pedestrian streets between canals lined with shops and restaurants.   We first visited the KeZhi Garden, the a Teo Temple before boarding water taxi’s for a scenic ride to the area of the restaurant where we had another 21 dish lunch followed by a long period to stroll the area and visit the shops.  Judy found some bargains and was happy with the time to shop.

The downside of today’s excursion was another record breaking temperature and high humidity.  Everyone was soaking wet when we arrived at lunch and when we re-boarded our bus to travel to the airport.  It was not the new International Airport that we arrived in Sunday night.  We were all scheduled on Hainan Airlines.  We were sad to say goodbye to Scottie – he was a great tour guide.  He had obtained our tickets and we then went through a security check that was not as time consuming as in the US.  They did wand almost everybody but did it a lot quicker than US TSA does with the same results.

Our tickets and the schedule board listed our Gate as A8 downstairs at the end of the terminal with a boarding time of 1720 to a bus gate.  The area was packed and we had difficulty finding seats.  When 1720 arrived they did not call our flight and I noticed that the flight number had dropped from the board.  I ran up to the gate agents with my boarding pass and was informed that there had been a gate change and the plane was boarding at a gate upstairs.   I then had to run around the crowded room to find all the OAT group members and inform them of the change.  We rushed upstairs to the new gate and found that there was a long line but they hadn’t started boarding our flight.

The aircraft was a B737-800 very clean and the meal was not too bad.  The flight was an even 2 hours and after some delay we all received our luggage and were met by our tour guides.  The group split into a downstream and an upstream tour group.  We are in the upstream group.  Our Tour Leader’s English name was Kathy.  She has been with OAT nine years and has been a tour guide for 21 years.  Our Hotel was the Ning Xia named after the Muslim area of China.  The hotel was seven years old up an alley but not too far from the center of town.  The room was large, the closet very small, no Kleenex, no bath soap, no wash cloth and no mattress – I am not kidding we slept on bed springs with a very thin pad over the metal.  I have slept on softer carpet floors.  On the plus side there was free internet.  I was able to connect and delete my unwanted e-mails.

Day 5/3 Friday, July 20, 2007

Today is the first day of the main tour.  Breakfast was even more Chinese style than Shanghai.  No bacon or pork products of any kind.  We start with a group meeting after Breakfast where Kathy explains the OAT Itinerary for the tour.  Three more couples join the group:

·         Bill and Pat Worth a retired USAF KC-135 Boom Operator from Yuba City, CA.  Pat is English and a retired school teacher.

·         Sam and Jorna Majumdar, a semi-retired Indian Professor at Lafayette College from Bethlehem, PA.  Jorna is a retired grade school teacher.

·         Lee and Kelly Daher, a father and daughter pair from Fresno, CA.

At 08:45 we board a bus were we are greeted by “Bob”, our Tour Guide for the duration of our stay in Beijing.  Today’s tour was a walk across Tiananmen Square with a stop to have a group picture taken and then to the Forbidden City.  The experience was a major contrast to our visit in 1988.  Massive construction has taken place around the square; trees have grown tall around Mao’s Tomb.  The whole area was crowded with tour groups.  When we were here in 1988 it was December and it was not crowded at all.  Many of the builds were closed for renovation.  The whole city has grown since 1988 and from what we have been told significant building has taken place since it was announced that Beijing would host the 2008 Olympics.

Although the buildings in the Forbidden City have existed for centuries with the recent renovation , the crowds and the revised flow there was little similarity to our experience 19 years ago.  After 5 hours of walking (can you believe that Mother made it?) we re-boarded our bus for a trip to a restaurant for a late lunch.

At the restaurant we ran across the “Downstream” OAT Group.  It was fun to see them for a short time as they were just finishing lunch when we arrived.

Dinner that night was a Peking Duck special in the hotel dining room.  We started by having everyone introduce themselves and their expectations for the tour.  Only the Indian couple and we have previously traveled in China.  Most of the others have traveled more on land tours rather than Cruise Ships.

Day 4: Saturday, July 21, 2007:    Beijing

Today it is off to the Great Wall – 45 miles from Beijing on a divided highway.  On the way we stopped at the BinBin Cloisonné factory which was very interesting to see the pieces produced, but expensive to purchase.  We then proceeded on to the Badaling area of the Great Wall which should have taken one hour to get there but the traffic was unbelievable - bumper to bumper most of the way.  We had lunch reservations at the Badaling restaurant and as we got closer to lunch time the traffic came to almost a complete stop so we piled out of the bus and walked the last two miles to the restaurant in the record setting heat.  After lunch we observed the wall – it is the most popular place for tourists from Beijing to experience the wall and it was covered in both directions with people.  Our bus finally caught up to us after lunch and we drove back towards Beijing and exited at another stop to visit the wall. 

The section is called The Place of King Chuang’s Breakthrough during the Ming Dynasty.  This section of the wall is supposed to be restored by Volkswagen but they have stopped work and we had to take mini vans up a dirt road to get to the spot where you can climb up the mountain to the wall and then you can climb only northeast steps on the wall.  Judy, and the Majumdars stayed below.  Bruce started up but didn’t make it to the wall.  I made it to the wall and we had a group picture taken then I returned to the base where we could watch the others climb up and through one of the watch towers.  Twenty years ago Judy and I had climbed the wall at the Badaling area and had climbed through several watch towers so I didn’t see the need to explore this run down area in the extreme heat.  The area is also a location for the granite Great Wall Stone Quarry.

On the road to this out-of-the-way section of the wall we passed a Chinese Army Officer training facility and a small gated community of two story western style homes that look like they were out of the set of Desperate Housewives.  Our guide told us that it is a weekend retreat for the wealthy businessman from Beijing and that a golf course is being built close by.  Our return trip to Beijing drove by the Olympic complex – still under construction – but very impressive.

After returning to the hotel Judy and I struck out on our own to get cough drops and a FORK at a local super market.  Along the way we passed a book store where they were selling the new Harry Potter book.  Judy attempted to purchase the book but her credit card was rejected and we didn’t have enough cash to purchase it.

Dinner was buffet style with fried shrimp which Judy normally loves but these shrimp still had the heads, shells and many legs and she didn’t find that appealing.  (The Chinese eat them (they are very crunchy) whole).

Day 5: Sunday, July 22, 2007:       Beijing

We decided to skip the scheduled tour to a Carpet Factory and return to the book store to purchase the Harry Potter book.  Kathy had given me directions in Chinese to give to a Taxi so we could meet the group for lunch.  As we stood in the front of our remotely located hotel trying to figure out how we could get a Taxi the English speaking manager of the hotel’s art gallery (on a smoke break) offered to help.  He looked at the directions and told us that it was walking distance and easy to find.  In the record heat it was a longer walk than we expected and we almost missed lunch.  The lunch setting was at an entrance to the Di Tan Park – one of the places to visit in Beijing.

Having rejoined the group we then rode out to the Summer Palace.  Judy and I had toured the place on our previous trip but that was in winter and visiting it in summer was a lot more enjoyable.  We took a boat ride on the lake.  Walking around the Palace and the lake was a lot more pleasurable than our walk to lunch.

The evening was concluded with a dinner and Peking Opera show.  The performers sat outside the hall putting on their makeup which is very elaborate.  An enjoyable last night in Beijing

Day 6: Monday, July 23, 2007:     Beijing

The day started with another open period.  We slept late and packed for the trip to Xian.  I was still unable to connect to the internet from my room.  The newly installed terminal in the lobby was finally activated and I was able to clean up my email but not able to send any out.

Just before lunch we checked out of the hotel and boarded our bus for a tour of the Hutong areas of Beijing which are narrow lanes with small one story houses that are rapidly disappearing as Beijing builds 50 story apartments in groups of threes.  We had lunch at a local family’s home.  It still amazed us how the hostess could prepare so many dishes from such a small kitchen.  After more walking around the Hutong area we visited Bei Hai Park, which included a boat ride around the lake and then free time on our own to shop and stroll around the area before boarding our bus for the train station

Day 7: Tuesday, July 24, 2007:  Xian

We arrived in the Xian Train Station around 8AM.  The training ride had been noisy and there was a lot of jerking back and forth.  The curtain over Judy’s bed had not been hung correctly and I had to climb up to the top bunk and lay on my back looking up to fix it. It made me very dizzy.  I didn’t bring my CPAP machine and used the dental device to stop snoring.  The device changes the architecture of your mouth and jaw further aggravating my inner ear.  As a result when I awoke I was nauseous and had difficulty with my balance – a severe case of vertigo including dry heaves.

We had a long walk with our carryon luggage from the train through the station to the bus.  I threw-up on the way and also in the bus (funny no one wanted to sit near me).  The group was scheduled to have breakfast in the hotel and given time to shower and unpack before visiting the Shan Xi History Museum.  Judy was suffering from her cold.  She had breakfast with the group without me but we both lay down and skipped the Museum tour.  We also missed the Mongolian Hot Pot dinner and a little excitement.  After the dinner Bob and Jayne (the newlyweds from Florida) got lost and Kathy had a frantic time trying to find them.

When Kathy returned to the hotel she checked on our status- I was still having dry heaves.  Judy discovered that she had some Meclizine pills in her bag and I took one and returned to bed.  What a day!

Day 8: Wednesday, July 25, 2007:  Xian

I awoke feeling back to normal and had a good breakfast before we started out for the main attraction in Xian – the Terra-Cotta Warriors.  On the way we stopped at a Lacquer Factory and then a Herbal Market.  After lunch we arrived at the Terra-Cotta Warrior complex.  And I mean complex with huge parking lots for buses and several very large buildings – larger than football stadiums.  We all have read about the warriors and have seen pictures but it still did not prepare me for the enormity of the area and not just one building the size several football fields but three large buildings.  A sight to remember the rest of my life.

Returning to the city we attended a Xian Dumpling Dinner and Tang Dynasty show.  beautiful women in gorgeous costumes performing dance numbers - a wonderful way of finishing a memorable day.

Day 9: Thursday, July 26, 2007:  Xian

The morning tour took us to the city wall and then to the Jin Jiang Jade shop to see how jade is used to make jewelry and ornamental pieces and then to Bell Tower.  The last stop was in walking distance of our hotel so Judy and I struck out on our own.  After the expensive shopping offered at the Jade shop, museum stores and Lacquer Factory, we were pleasantly surprised by a row of stalls around the corner from the Bell Tower that our guide had not mentioned.  We were able to find some nice small things for gifts.

Back at the hotel we had lunch and then checked out of the hotel.  Prior to check out Kathy arranged an appointment for Judy to see the hotel doctor, a pleasant woman with limited English skills.  She diagnosed Judy’s cough as bronchitis and prescribed an antibiotic for her to take.

Following hotel checkout we drove to the Guang Ming Primary School which is sponsored by the Grand Circle Foundation and then on to the Huxian Farmer Village. 

At the village we were let out of the bus in the old section of the village where we observed the making of noodles’ cut and hanging to dry.  We then walked past the abandoned farm houses and crossed the road to the relocated village houses neatly laid out in clean city blocks.  All the houses have the same basic exterior dimensions but the farmers have to finish the inside to their own design.  We were assigned to a house with Bob and Jayne.  It was a two story house with at least 5 bedrooms.  Two bedrooms assigned to us were up stairs with a bathroom between.  The bathroom was strange in that it was nicely tiled with a wand type shower installed on the wall but no shower curtain and a level floor with on drain except in the corner so if you did use the shower everything in the room would get wet.  The second floor where Bob, Jayne and we stayed was very spacious with in addition to the two bed rooms and bath had a large room with a large round table with 12 chairs and a door to a covered deck that was as large as the downstairs living room.  It appeared from the deck that all the houses in the neighborhood were basically the same design but our hosts were the only ones to cover their deck.

The farmer had a daughter away at college and a son who is a sophomore in high school.  The son could speak a little English, but was more interested in watching the TV than acting as a translator for his mother.

Judy had a California t-shirt to give to the farmer’s wife and as she was giving her the shirt I noticed that Judy was having an insulin reaction and we had to get her something to eat right away.  The farmer’s wife served some tea and peanuts which along with some candy got Judy back into the real world.

We were given a list of questions translated into Chinese and we communicated by pointing to the question on the sheet and the farmer’s wife would answer by pointing to the answer sheet.  After the meal we walked to the town square where the other travelers and their hostess gathered.  There was a Boom Box playing Chinese music and the women started to dance in a form of line dancing.  At the other end of the square was a large group of US college kids who were also staying in the village.  The kids were from the University of Colorado and on a break from an exchange program in Beijing.

When the farmer’s wives stopped dancing the college kids changed the music to US style and started getting everyone to dance to “YMCA” and similar songs.  Everyone appeared to be having great fun when the skies opened up with a heavy rain storm.  We dashed back to our farm house to find the teen age son watching the China National Basketball team playing on TV.  With our translator preoccupied we decided to turn in.

Day 10: Friday, July 27, 2007:

The night in the farmer’s house was not too bad.  The mattress was firm but at least not plain box springs.  We slept with a screened window open and as a result heard all the dog and cats fights in the neighborhood. 

The husband joined us for breakfast and he was pleasant but did not speak one word of English and had he had difficulty understanding our Chinese translation sheets.  The son did not join the meal.  After breakfast we were to meet at a local painter’s studio.  As I exited the house I saw that the son was still asleep on top of his covers with an NFL football next to him on the bed.

The local artist was very talented.  His studio was wall to wall with his art.  Most were scenes of peasants in their fields or at festivals 10x12 in bright color tempera.  He also did an interesting rendition in straw which is soaked in water then unraveled to a large flat piece cut to shape and ironed flat.  He then burns areas to give effect of things like fish scales, hair, eyes, etc.  He has been commissioned to paint dragons for the Olympics.  While we were there he quickly created a colorful picture to show his skill.

After the artist tour we boarded our bus for a drive to the Xian Airport where we had lunch and boarded a plane to Wuhan.  It was a 90 minute flight on Hainan Airline B-737-800.  Judy ended up in the middle seat next to Kathy.

At Wuhan we claimed our checked luggage.  Several of the bags had been broken into and Al and Alice had the silk comforter they had purchased at the silk factory stolen.  We had to wait for the claim to be reported and paperwork before we started the 5 hour bus ride to Yichang to board the ship.  The bus was not the best and although the highways are new and generally smooth it was not the best ride.  In 5 hours we made just one “happy stop” (as Kathy called it).  We arrived in Yichang and went to eat before boarding the boat.

I quickly unpacked and left Judy in the room as I toured the ship, signed up for the Internet and attempted to send a message which after I wrote a lengthy one it was not sent and disappeared – very frustrating!  When I returned to the cabin Judy was sitting on the edge of the bed disoriented.  It was difficult for me to get something with sugar in it for her to swallow.  At one point I called the front desk to see if there was a doctor on board.  There was a Dr. Xu and he called me but in the mean time I found some candy and Judy snapped out of it.  Dr. Xu was not much help.  We finally got her clothes put away and retired.  Nice bed – we had a good night’s sleep.

Day 11: Saturday, July 28, 2007:  Yangtze River

The ship spent the night docked in Yi Chang.  At sunrise we departed up the Yangtze to the Gezhouba Dam where we passed through a one step lock to enter the Xiling Gorge for a two hour cruise to the Three Gorges Dam.

After breakfast we docked at Sandouping and boarded a bus that took us up to several observation points overlooking the dam and the locks.  It is spectacular sight.  The water level at this point is low but there are signs all along the bank of the river that marks the 176M point that the water will eventually rise to behind the dam by 2009.

After returning to the ship we departed for a three hour venture into five locks to raise us up to the river level behind the dam.

Lunch was interesting.  The first American style salad with spaghetti with meat sauce and minestrone soup.  What made it more interesting was it was Saturday and Judy usually has either spaghetti or minestrone soup every Saturday for lunch at Maria’s Italian Kitchen in Woodland Hills.

After lunch I attended a lecture on the “Ancient Waters, the Timeless Yangtze” – fascinating!

Following the lecture we attended a lecture and demonstration by the ship’s doctor, Dr. Xu.  He briefed us on the theory and practice of traditional Chinese medicine which includes not only Acupuncture, but pressure points, suction, massage and scraping.  He then asked for a volunteer who had shoulder pain.  I raised my hand and was selected.  It was an experience.  He first put three needles in me – the first behind my right ear (which stung) and two others that I didn’t feel.  Next he applied pressure to a point behind my ear and several other spots around my shoulder area; next he applied three suction cups in the shoulder area; then he scraped my skin around the back, neck and shoulder and finally he performed a vigorous massage.  He encouraged me to schedule another session to continue the treatment at $75 per session which I declined.

Before dinner we attended the Captain’s Welcome Reception similar to other cruises but they served Apple Cider Champagne.  After dinner we attended the “Victoria Cruises Fashion Show” where the crew modeled a variety of Chinese traditional costumes from various regions and eras of China.  They also performed dance numbers that were as good as what we had seen in Xian

Day 12: Sunday, July 29, 2007: Yangtze River

The ship spent the night docked at Badong.  At sunrise we departed up the Wu Gorge, the second and considered the most beautiful of the Three Gorges.  I awoke with a sore throat, cough and a husky voice.  Judy is doing a little better but still has a deep cough.  Her erythromycin treatment finishes today.  My shoulder did not hurt during the night so Dr. Xu’s treatment must have had some effect.  The point he applied pressure behind my right ear was a little sore.

Unfortunately it is raining with a low overcast.  After breakfast we docked at Wushan to board a ferry boat to cruise the Daning River tributary through the Lesser Gorges.

We board the ferry for a 90 minute cruise up the river where we see the famous hanging coffins in caves up the clift side of the gorges.  No one knows exactly how they were placed there by the Ba people centuries ago.  The coffins reportedly weight a ton.

When we reach the Madu River the ferry stops and the tourist can continue up the Madu to the Mini Three Gorges in small sampans.  It was raining and Judy and I decide to skip the wet trip and nurture our colds.  Unfortunately one of the others that stayed behind was a cigar smoker and even though he smoked outside the cabin the smoke drifted in and didn’t help our coughs.

After lunch I attempted to use the internet.  It is very slow.  Judy got on and wrote a long letter to the girls and AOL would not send it.  I copied and pasted it into a MSN session and was able to send it but when I wrote my own message MSN would not send it – weird! 

Kathy convinced us to visit Dr. Xu to treat our colds.  He determined that Judy had bronchitis and gave her stronger medicine.  He took one look at my throat and gave me some Amoxicillin and cough pills.  The pills cost us $97 and the examination $13.

The group met with Kathy before dinner for her opportunity to tells us about her “Culture re-education” experiences.  She was only 10 when the “Culture Revolution” started.  She had a difficult time trying to comprehend why her teacher was evil and had to confess past sins which she didn’t understand as sins.  When she completed high school the universities were shut down and she had to go to the country to live on a farm.  The farm turned out to be in the cold northwestern area of China and the “farm” was just a desolate area that 100 teenagers from all over the nation were trucked to live at for several years.  Dinner time came before she was able to complete the story.

After dinner which included Pepper Steak and mashed potatoes we attended the Victoria Crew Cabaret show.  Pauline Frommer’s little girl performed a Gymnastics routine and the crew staff performed various acts – a cornball magician, several musical numbers, the dance of the multi faces (very impressive) and other dances.  At the end the dancers pulled Bob and I up on the stage with many others to dance a native dance in a circle.  One of the Magic acts was to produce a cold Coke from a crushed can and the Magician gave it to Judy which of course with her blood sugar in disarray she could not drink it.

Day 13: Monday, July 30, 2007: Yangtze River

The ship spent the night docked at Fengdu (the “City of Ghosts”).  It is a very popular shore attraction for the Yangtze River Cruise ships.  It received its reputation as the Ghost City during the Eastern Han Dynasty.  Two officials from the Imperial Court Ying and Wang, came to the Mt. Minshan outside Fengdu to practice Taoist.  They carried out self-cultivation.  Their names when combined in Chinese sound very much like “King of Hell” hence the people began to call Fengdu the “Ghost City”.  All the groups on the boat except OAT took a tour of the Taoist temple.

Our group took a bus ride to a suburb of Fengdu on the north side of the river to visit a relocated family.  Most of the people from the old city and surrounding farms were relocated to a new city of 750,000 primarily in new high rise buildings on the south side of the river.  The family we visited did very well in the relocation due to the size of the family they were able to build a three story building with 7 bed rooms and a shop on the ground floor.  The lost their farmland and now run the shop and raise pigs in the basement.  Two of the family members work in factories in southern China and send money home.  A very industrious family, showing us, that many people are better off from the relocation than some reports.  We walked the streets of the neighborhood where people were drying corn on the concrete streets.  Judy passed out some pencils with colorful patterns and it was a big hit with kids that crowded around her.

On the way back to the ship we stopped to tour the shopping area – typical of third world city markets with fresh vegetable stalls, cooked meat, raw meat and fish tanks along with clothes and toys in a large covered building and alleyways.  A market similar to those I have seen in Vietnam, other Chinese Cities and Africa.  But it was new to many in our group.

We had an interesting lunch on the ship which included a choice of hamburgers and French fries to please the American palate.  The afternoon schedule was basically free time except for a tour of the Captain’s bridge.

Prior to dinner Kathy continued telling us her “Culture re-education” experiences.  She told us how she applied and was accepted to attend university if she agreed to return to the “farm” after graduation.  On the trip back to the “farm” after four years of English training in Shanghai she stopped in Xian to visit a girl friend.  The girl friend introduced her to a young doctor and they agreed to start a relationship.  After three years, a lot of letters and only three meetings they married.  It has not been an ideal or romantic marriage but she did have one son who is attending university in Canada.  Her husband has become a renowned radiologist.  She also told us how she was finally able to transfer to Xian to become a Tour Guide and eventually joined OAT and described the politics of GCT and OAT.  The GCT Guides make more money because their groups are twice as large as OAT.  We were given a big hint that she needs us to all give her an outstanding evaluation in order for her to keep her number 1 position.

Dinner was the “Farwell Banquet” with toasts to the Captain and crew in the Apple Cider Champagne.  We skipped the after dinner activities in order to return to the room and pack.  I made one last trip to the Internet room and was for the first time able to send an email.  We had to pack two sets of luggage.  Our “checked” bag will not accompany us to Lhasa.  It will be stored in the Chengdu Hotel until our return from Lhasa.  We will only be able to take Carry On bags to Lhasa.

Day 14: Tuesday, July 31, 2007: Chongqing/Chengdu

In the morning we loaded our Carry On bags on the bus and traveled to the center of town for a stop at the Peoples Great Hall of Chongqing which is the city landmark built during Mao‘s reign as Mayor of the city.  It has a large dome and long steps to a plaza that connects to a very modern mostly glass Convention Center.  The Hall has recently been renovated and was very colorful and beautiful in ancient Chinese style.  In the hall there was an art gallery that contained a floor of beautiful oil portraits of Tibetan people – sad eyed beautiful girls, wrinkle faced old men and women – all in native costumes.

Our next stop in Chongqing was the General Stillwell museum.  It is quarters he lived in during World War II.  It has the original furnishings including a 1940’s Philco Radio in his bedroom.  The basement contained large photos documenting his history with the Chinese and the building of the “Stillwell (Burma) Road” during the war and the work his daughters carried on in his name after he died of cancer in 1944.  Across the street there is the “Flying Tigers” museum which documented the men and women that served in the unit and when it later became the 14^th Air Force.  It also had a display on the Doolittle Raid and the life of General Chennault.  Very impressive and for my interests the most interesting museum we have visited on the trip.

Back on the bus we started the five hour drive to Chengdu.  The road had many rough areas and areas under repair.  Kathy told us that the Construction Managers were convicted of corruption and faulty construction for the poor quality of the road’s construction.  We had two “Happy Breaks” but no formal lunch stop.  At the noon time “Happy Break” we were able to purchase snacks and cold drinks.  I bought a blue bag of Potato Chips which turned out to be flavored with Chicken Chili.  One of the others bought a red bag of Potato Chips and it really had a Chili Pepper kick to it.  I also bought a bottle of Iced Tea which turned out to taste like Snapple.  Judy bought some cookies to go with a Peanut Butter sandwich she had brought from the ship’s breakfast.  I was able to finish listening to the John Stossal book on my iPod before the battery gave out.

We arrived in Chengdu before 5PM and stopped in a quaint area which all the buildings on both side of the long block built in ancient Chinese style.  There were a number of restaurants and Chinese Tea Houses mixed in with tourist shops.  Kathy gave us time to explore before our 5PM dinner reservation.  Judy found a shop to her liking near our restaurant and was able to buy a toy Panda with a cub – very cute.  Chengdu is the “Panda City” and on our return from Lhasa we are scheduled to visit their breeding center.

Dinner contained several spicy dishes and if you like spicy Chinese food it was outstanding but for those that didn’t, the non-spicy dishes were very bland.

On to the hotel for we have to get up early (5:30 Breakfast) for our flight to Lhasa.  The hotel section we had our rooms in is the 4 star building in the 5 star Jinjiang Hotel.  The restaurant is in the 5 star area – our rooms were very large with free slow Internet (100 mps) connections in the room.  Bob and Jayne had filled the Memory Cards on their camera and I volunteered to have them download to my laptop until we get to a place where they can buy a CD or DVD that I can then burn their pictures on.  The Internet was to slow to send a message so I retired early for we had a 4:30AM wake-up.

Day 15: Wednesday, August 1, 2007:  Lhasa

We arose at 4:30AM to find that it was raining which meant that those without umbrellas had a problem walking over to the 5 star hotel for breakfast.  Fortunately Judy and I found our umbrellas.  The breakfast was similar to the ones we have experienced in the other hotels.  Next was a dash to the airport for despite the weather the Airline told Kathy they we scheduled to depart on time at 8AM.  Security was a little slow.  Like the other airports everyone is has the handheld wand check after going through the checkpoint which seems to buzz for everyone.  We boarded the China Air B-757 on time.  Judy and I were able to get a window and aisle seat with no one in the middle.  At 8AM they announced that we were on an ATC delay and broke out the meal carts (not a good sign).  We had a second breakfast and several drink refills before we finally took off at 0930 for a 1+30 flight.  Landing in Lhasa was a big departure from the overcast or smoggy skies we had experienced since the start of the trip.  Lhasa is the highest elevation airport in the world.  As we departed we saw through the glass the “Downstream” OAT group waiting to board our aircraft.  Their trip is going to be out of schedule with the 1+30 minute aircraft delay and Kathy told us their bus ride was going to be 8 hours from Chengdu to board their ship, rather than the 5 hours that we took.

Our Local Guide speaks very understandable English.  The ride to Lhasa from the airport was one hour.  Along the way we passed a colorful group on horseback dressed in local costumes.  The bus stopped so we could take their picture as they passed by and turned into a local village.  Our guide explained the local culture, burial options, (burial in the water so the fish feed on the corpse; burial in the open so the birds feed on the corpse, burial underground for those with disease or are criminals, cremations and reincarnation); marriage options, (one to one in the city, among the nomads either one man can take three wives or one woman can have three husbands.  The children consider the oldest husband to be their father and the other husbands to be uncles); and the two areas of the city.  Our hotel is in the old section of the city and for once there are many local stalls and shops full of tourist items close to the hotel.  The hotel room was not as large as the other hotels and had no internet but next door was a coffee house with wireless internet.

We dropped our bags in the room and walked very slowly to lunch in the hotel – one of the best lunches we have experienced for variety and taste.  We were told not to drink any alcohol the first day and after lunch we were told to take a nap.  I connected my CPAP machine and feel asleep for two hours only to awake with a stuffy nose – so on top of a cold and altitude sickness, I was allergic to something in the air.

At 6PM we gathered to get a lecture on the local culture from a local University Professor.  She teaches Business English at the local University and gave us more details than the local guide – especially as it related to the relationship between Tibetans and the Chinese Hans who have migrated from Eastern China to Tibet.  She spent many years of schooling in “Mainland China” (as the Tibetans refer to the other areas of China) and claimed to not suffer from discrimination (as is often claimed by pro Tibetan independence advocates).  She looked 14 but was 30 and has yet to get married.  We asked her a lot question about her marriage options which she only gave generalities and about the Dalai Lama and the politics which she dodged or gave a “party” answer.  Still it was very informative.

Dinner was not quite up to the lunch but was tasty.  After dinner we walked the area.  We bought some Altitude Sickness pills from Kathy but neither of us felt “chipper”.  I returned to the room before Judy with a headache to write this journal.  Judy bought a necklace and we went to bed at 9:30.

Day 16: Thursday, August 2, 2007:  Lhasa

China has one time zone for the whole county so the sunrise is later than we have been experiencing in the Eastern areas of the country.  Therefore instead of activities starting at 8AM we started today at 9:30AM with a walk around the area past many of the stalls we had walked by last night to the OAT “Official” expensive tourist shop with of course the carpet sales on the second floor.  Judy and I passed on the carpet demonstration and walked the area looking for small size t-shirts for the Grandchildren – not an easy task to find small sizes.  We found some for the 3 ½ year olds but not for the 1 ½ year old.  At mid morning we stopped in the restaurant that we were scheduled to have lunch and had tea and Indian nan and then rendezvous with the group for a tour of the Jokhang Temple.  It was an absolute mob scene of locals and tourists.  No pictures were allowed.  After the tour we walked to the restaurant for the first order from the menu meal we have had an OAT’s expense.  I had Yak Curry meal and Judy had Chicken with lemon but it had very little lemon flavor.

After lunch I went “techie” taking my laptop to an Internet shop to transfer Bob and Jayne’s pictures to a CD and then to the Coffee Shop next to the Hotel that had free Wireless connection.  At last I was able to get to my QMX email and it took me several hours to set up Outlook for QMX and download 295 messages that had accumulated since July 13^th.  Half the group took an optional tour to visit a Buddhist Monastery school, but I just enjoyed a cool drink and getting my email caught up.  Judy was not feeling well and napped and read her Harry Potter book.  Once I straighten out the QMX email mess she came come down to clean up her AOL account.

Dinner was a short bus ride away to the Crazy Yak Restaurant.  The food was Tibetan buffet – a little strange but tasty.  They had a mix-up placing the signs below the dishes so we were not sure what we had selected.  Dinner was followed by a show of different Tibetan dances and costumes ending with four of the dancers made up as two Yaks that attacked the fifth dancer and then the audience all to strange almost “Blue Grass” sounding music.  We then went back to the hotel for another 10PM turn-in and a restful night.

Day 17: Friday, August 3, 2007:  Lhasa

I had a good night’s sleep.  We were the first ones to breakfast and then set out to find a small t-shirt for Rex.  The stalls were just opening and it took a while but we found a vendor whose wife ran down the street to another stall to get what we were looking for.  Back at the hotel the tour started at 09:15.  The first stop was a local home – very interesting seven room building.  They served us a variety of nuts, barley, puffed rice, pop corn, a sweet Yak cheese, Yak Butter Milk and homemade Barley Beer.  The Barley Beer looks lemonade, has a low percentage of alcohol and tastes very refreshing.  The Yak Milk tasted like Tea with milk.  Our guide gave us a demonstration on how they make the Yak Milk and then our host made breakfast bread.  Using a pouch made of goat skin, she mixed in barley flour, sugar and Yak butter.  She then kneaded it in the pouch and it turned out to be a very tasty bread – all without cooking.  One of the rooms in the home was dedicated to religious statues and pictures.  They even had a picture of the Dali Lama with Chairman Mao (the only way they can have a picture of the Dali Lama is if a high ranking Chinese official is also in the picture).

Our next stop was the OAT sponsored Orphanage in Lhasa and (OAT takes $10 per head from our trip fee to fund it).  When we got there the building was full of Tibetan students that were visiting prior to their trip to the “Main Land”.  It was awkward but we got the gist of the situation.

Our lunch was in a restaurant near the hotel across from the one we ate lunch the day before.  I had Yak curry and a large bottle of local beer.  We walked back to the room and I had a nice two hour nap.

At 3PM we started the big adventure – the tour of the Potala Place.  It takes 300 steps to climb to the Dali Lama’s quarters and tours are only allowed 60 minutes to tour the quarters.  I climbed the 300 steps up to the Dali Lama’s Potala Palace.  Judy didn’t try it.  The number of Buddha statues was fascinating and the Place is a beautiful place.  The weather is clear here at the top of the world.  The backside of the place is a driveway so it was an easy walk down.

Dinner was Yak Cheeseburgers, sliced tomatoes, French fries and onion rings.  It was a hoot after the variety of meals we have been experiencing.  Then it was another early to bed to get up early to pack and board the bus to the airport.

Day 18: Saturday, August 4, 2007:  Chengdu

We awoke to the first overcast day.  The hour bus ride to the airport was uneventful.  The plane boarded on time but we had to wait on the runway for an hour before we were cleared to takeoff.  The in-flight lunch was a surprise – beef stew and rice with a bowl of cherry tomatoes and soybeans.

We returned to the same hotel we stayed at the night before we flew to Tibet and were re-united with our “checked” bags.  Dinner was American Style in the 5 star hotel’s restaurant.  After dinner we attended a Chengdu Tea House show.  It was fabulous – the costumes, dancing, music, skits, a great puppet act, the best hand shadow act I have ever seen, and ended with the famous face change act.

Day 19: Sunday, August 5, 2007:  Hong Kong

Today was my 72^nd birthday and the tour’s last day in Mainland China.  Breakfast was again in the 5 star hotel’s “Western Restaurant”.  We had to have our checked bags outside the room at 0730 and board the bus at 0845.  The weather was overcast, some rain showers and a little cooler than it had been – perfect for our trip to the Panda Breeding Facility.  What an experience.  The panda’s were out of their caves, there was a light rain so there was not a large crowd.  We were able to see the mature, the baby and the new born pandas up close and take a lot of good pictures.

Lunch was in a local restaurant on the way to the airport for our flight to Hong Kong.  Judy fell down three steps in the rest room and bruised her knee.  She has really had hard luck on this trip.  Our seats on the place were in the very back section with no leg room. Kathy was able to get Judy an exit row seat with no row in front of her so she was able to stretch out her leg.

We arrived at the L’Hotel on Hong Kong Island after 8PM.  The hotel is off the tourist maps of Hong Kong east of Victoria Park.  OAT had done it again – put the group in an out of the way hotel that is not representative of the city.  Only one other couple in the group had ever been in Hong Kong before so the group didn’t complain.  When we arrived in our room we found it was a smoking room and all the rooms in the hotel were taken.  Kathy tried to switch us with her room but it was also a smoking room.  There was a pleasant surprise – Marc had the hotel deliver a birthday cake (Black Forest with fruit on top) to the room.  There was internet by the hour in the room.

Day 20: Monday, August 6, 2007: Hong Kong

We had a fair night and fortunately the smoke did not affect my CPAP machine, but by the time I took my shower there was no hot water.  I was not a happy camper and let Kathy know at breakfast what a poor choice of hotels OAT had made.

Our tour was a world wind tour of Hong Kong starting with a Buddha Temple and the moving walkway and market in the Hong Kong Financial District.  We then drove out to Aberdeen and took a sampan ride around the house boats, the Jumbo and Tai Pak floating restaurants.  Next we stopped at the Aberdeen Jewelry Factory that GCT and OAT has a deal with.

Several of us had the bus drop us off in Kowloon at the corner of Haipong and Nathan Roads (our old stomping grounds).  Bob and Jayne joined us for lunch across the street from where the Hyatt Hotel used to be (it is now a construction site).  It was the best meal we had in China.  After lunch we walked over to the Star Ferry area and showed Bob and Jayne how they could get to the Museum.  Jayne and once spend a night in the InterContinental Hotel on a layover going to another country and she wanted to show Bob how fancy it is.  We of course entered the Star House department store and returned to the area where I bought a Sheltie statue for Judy’s birthday 11 years ago.  I also visited the PC floor and found the same bunch of stores as before but not the pirated software that they used to sell, rather a lot of brand name laptops and monitors.

Next door I paid a visit to the Hong Kong Hotel I used to stay in during my trips from Viet Nam.  It is still looking good.  From there we hailed a taxi to the Jade Market.  It has not changed one bit in the last 21 years.  I swear they still have some of the same woman displaying the same jewelry.  As Judy wondered about I walked over to the Temple Street where the vendors were starting to set up their booths for the Night Market.

For old time sake we decided to walk down Nathan Road, back to the rendezvous point on Haiphong Road.  Halfway there it started to rain but the trees and shop overhangs coupled with our umbrellas enabled us to enjoy the memories of trips in the past along the same route – the Holiday Inn where we last stayed the same camera stores, the same offers for a Rolex watch or designer handbag are still there.

We met up with Bob and Jayne, Harvey and Patti and our local guide at the restaurant only to find that our bus was caught in a traffic jam in the tunnel from Hong Kong to Kowloon and would be late.

I decided to try and reach Tom King, my neighbor and grade school classmate from Weston who had settled in Hong Kong in the 1960s.  Calls to his home number resulted in abrupt hang ups so I called his work number and was told he had died in December of 2003.  They were gracious enough to give me his wife, Judy’s cell phone number and I called her.  She was in Macau and was returning that night.  I was saddened at Tom’s death – he had been the one person alive 11 years ago that had known me the longest.  It now defaults to Althea Keene D’Aiuto who I see in Florida at the annual Staples reunions.

The group finally arrived and we had our meal – the menu as always, was selected by OAT and nowhere near as tasty as our lunch had been in the restaurant next door.

After dinner we were driven back to the area near the Jade Market to visit the Night Market.  It was fun as always and I bought several little things like a small screw driver to fix glasses that attached to my key ring and some trinkets for the grandchildren.

Following the Night Market visit the bus took us up to Victoria Peak.  In our past visits we always took the tram so this was a new experience to drive the windy road at night in a light rain.  At the top we were surprised to find a multi story shopping galleria in what once was the park area.  The little restaurant where we celebrated Judy’s 60^th birthday is still there but is over shadowed by the Galleria complex.  The tram terminal is now in the main Galleria.  I took escalators to the top of the building to take see the view and to take photos of the Harbor, the lighted buildings on both the Hong Kong and Kowloon side.  As to be expected it was spectacular.

Back at the hotel I received a call from Judy King setting up a date to meet her Tuesday afternoon at Stanley.

Day 21: Tuesday, August 7, 2007: Hong Kong

Our last full day in Hong Kong was to visit another old stomping ground – the Stanley Market.  At breakfast we had several couples that were going to accompany us but Kathy told them that it was just like the Night Market and they should do something else so everyone but Lee and Kelly decided to visit the huge Buddha at the Po-Lin Monastery out by the airport on Lantau Island.  I had been there back in the 1970s, and we have seen enough Buddhas to last a lifetime.  Lee and Kelly joined us in a taxi ride to Stanley.  Later they thanked me for encouraging them to go.  Stanley has changed since we were last there 11 years ago.  The market area is the same but they have upgraded the water front with a new promenade, added the Maritime Museum and Prison Museum to the area.  I visited the market a then strolled along the waterfront and the new pubs and restaurants facing the ocean.

We met Judy King at 2PM and she drove us to the American Club on a bluff overlooking Stanley bay.  We had the first American style iced tea since we left the states.  Judy told us how Tom was suddenly stricken with cancer in the abdomen which led to the removal of part of his bladder.  They sold their two story house in the New Territories and moved into a condominium on Hong Kong Island and he was getting around fairly well when his kidneys failed in December 2003.  His address list of friends and their email addresses was in his laptop and they didn’t have the password.  One of his daughter’s took the laptop with her back to the US and wiped the disk clean and reloaded her software.  We then talked about more pleasant things and she showed us pictures of her girls and grandchild.  The oldest daughter, whose wedding I attended in Seattle, is still married and lives and works in Seattle but has no children; her youngest daughter is divorced with a little girl and lives in Colorado.  Tom’s siblings are still alive.  Nancy, is still living in Connecticut, Bobby has retired as a school Principal and is scheduled to visit Hong Kong with his wife this fall.  Cathy still lives in a commune in upstate New York.

Judy drove us back to the hotel where we packed for the trip to Cambodia.  We were told to limit our luggage to Cambodia and leave our large “checked bags” at the hotel we would stay at on our return from Cambodia.

We had our last dinner with the group in the hotel restaurant and I had my birthday cake (which had been in the room refrigerator served to the group).  After dinner those of the group continuing on to Cambodia went shopping in the local Pharmacy for mosquito repellant patches.  Judy had not been taking her Doxycycline pills so she was concerned about the possibility of getting malaria.

Day 22: Wednesday, August 8, 2007: Hong Kong to Cambodia

The Post-Trip to Cambodia group: Bob and Jayne, Sam and Jorna, Allen and Alice and Bruce were up early to check out and drive to the hotel in the New Territories closer to the airport where we will store our big bags for our overnight stay over on our way back to the states from Cambodia.  The hotel is also a L’Hotel and is brand new in what was desired to be the tallest building in Hong Kong but was not approved at the proposed height because of its proximity to the Airport.  Judy needed to visit the rest room while we were storing our bags and was directed to the 10^th floor and found that the only rooms completed on the floor were the restrooms – I can’t wait to see what our assigned room will be like when we return from Cambodia.

The OAT brochure described our flight to Siem Reap via Saigon which I was looking forward to seeing what Ton Son Nut Airport would look like after 35 years.  I was disappointed to find that we were routed through Phnom Penh rather than Saigon.  The stop in Phnom Penh was interesting.  We were restricted to the terminal and invited to the Business Lounge where we had free drinks and watched CNN for the first time in weeks (Larry King interviewing Tammy Baker’s son and Barry Bonds hitting a homerun).

The hotel in Siem Reap had a nice large room with hard wood floors with a door to the adjoining room.  Our dinner was in the hotel restaurant.

Day 23: Thursday, August 9, 2007:  Cambodia

We awoke before the alarm.  Cambodia is one hour earlier than China and I guess our body clock was still on China time.  Through the adjoining door we could hear the TV in that room like it was in our room.  Breakfast was good and we then started out early on the tour.  The first stop was the National Park Main Entrance.  I was a little surprised that there are so many temples in the area besides Angkor Wat.  Today we visited:

·         Ta Prohm – A former monastery it has been over taken by enormous kapok trees.  Their massive roots are now part of the spectacle and so intertwined with the structures that not a tower still stands and the restorers are afraid that if they kill the roots that the remaining walls will crumble.

·         Ta Keo – Is an imposing temple and is off limits to tourist.  Our bus stopped and we plied out to take pictures.  According to the guide it was never finished and was struck by lighting and considered unlucky.  It is built from a hard sand stone that is difficult to carve and has more flat surfaces than the other structures in the National Park.

·         Chau Say Thevoda – An excellent example of restoration work.  The Chinese have sponsored the restoration and when we arrived the temple was crawling with workers.  It was fascinating to see them carve the new stones with the same pattern found on the existing stones.

·         Victory Gate to Angkor Thom –Within the Nation Park is the ancient city of Angkor Thom.  It is a walled city with five gates.  We exited the bus and walked a long causeway with the heads of daemons on one side and the heads of gods on the other side.  (Gods have almond shaped eyes and Demons have round eyes) thru the Victory Gate.  After our picture taking we boarded the bus to travel into the central area of Angkor Thom.

·         Bayon – Inside the walls is the temples of Bayon with54 towers.  It was built as a Buddhist Temple but the Buddha was removed when the Kingdom converted to Hindu.  It an impressive site.

·         Baphoun is another temple undergoing restoration with a wall displaying the work and proposed work.  Tourists are not allowed in the structure.

·         Terrace of the Elephants – In the central area is a large platform structure with some 300 meters of life size bas-relief elephants carved on the base stone.

·         Terrace of the Leper King – Next to the Terrace of the Elephants is the Terrace of the Leper King with a headless statue of what was believed to be of a King that reportedly suffered from leprosy.

·         Sras Srang where we had lunch in a local villager’s home.  When people were able to return to their homes after Pol Pot’s regime those that settled in what is now the National Park were allowed to remain in the park.  For the most part they are the vendors that sell goods to the tourists around the temples.

Our hostess had had thirteen children and was 62 years old.  The house was on stilts across from the Kings Swimming Pool (actually a small lake).  It had generated electricity and gas tank stoves.  The meal was delicious and was followed with a demonstration on how she prepared some of the dishes.  Her children also sell goods in stalls at the temples and we bought some of their items before we left. 

On the way back to the hotel we stopped so I could purchase a new battery for my camera.  After an hour rest we started out again for the main attraction – Angkor Wat!

We arrived at this massive site in a light rain but that did not dampen the crowds.  The temple is surrounded by a large moat and we had to walk across a long causeway to the outside wall and entry gate.  Once inside there is another long causeway with pools on either side.  The pictures you often see with the towers reflected in water are taken from the edge of these pools.  The causeway runs West to East.  Once we passed through what is called the 3^rd Enclosing Wall our guide took us to the North entrance to the 2^nd enclosing wall away from the crowds and showed us the pillars and bas-relief carvings that are perfectly alighted and duplicated along the length of the wall.  We worked our way back to the main (West) entrance of the 2^nd wall and entered into the inner area.  The center five towers have very steep steps and only one set on the south side has a railing.  The line to go up and down those steps was 300 meter long.  Our guide showed us a set of steps with no rail we could use to get to the top.  Only Allen, Alice, our guide and I took this route scrambling like a monkey up steps only 4 inches deep.  The view from the top was breathtaking and there were many rooms and things to see – one of which was another line 300 meters long of people lined up to go down the steps with the hand rail.  Once we had seen all the rooms we returned to the steps we had climbed to get there.  Going down was more of a challenge and a little like rock climbing.  I went down backwards turning my foot at a right angle to place it squarely on each step.  Unfortunately, as I started down someone else was just arriving from the bottom and I banged my leg against the corner of a ledge so I had that pain in addition to worrying about missing a step on the uneven stone.  We all eventually got down safely and then the guide told me that I am the oldest person he has ever had take this route up and down the stairs with him.

My goal had been reached.  China was interesting with its rapid growth (reminiscent of Singapore in the 1980s), the Terra-Cotta Warriors were impressive, the relocation of cities along the Yangtze, the dam and the gorges were a sight to see and remember, Tibet was an unforgettable experience, but none of it compared to my finally, after 36 years, walking through Angkor Wat.  During my 18 months in Viet Nam I had a large picture of Angkor Wat on the wall of my office taken by an Air Force reconnaissance plane and enlarged in the Photo Interpretation shop.  On my monthly trips to Bangkok I had often flown over the temple and on several occasions we had dropped down to pass over the site at a low altitude.  I have for 32 years wanted to visit the site and climb its stairs to the top and on this day it finally came to fruition!

Our dinner was at a local restaurant with a Khmer Cultural Show which reminded me of similar shows I have seen in Thailand.  Our guide claims it is more like Laos than Siamese.

Our return to the hotel was by a remok which is a two wheel cart attached to a motor bike and the primary taxi vehicle in Siem Reap.

Day 24: Friday, August 10, 2007:  Cambodia

We had an early start again to beat the heat.  At the edge of the city we disembarked from the bus and walked along the road next to the river.  On the river side of the road the house are built on stilts and many had racks of fish laid out to dry in the sun.  On the non-river side the houses are set back from the road and are two stories on stilts with SUVs and Pick-up trucks parked underneath many of them.  Alongside the road were many stalls selling cigarettes, gasoline in liter size wine, soda and scotch bottles (the square Black Label bottles fit nicely in hand made racks), and other small goods.  The proprietors sit in the stalls playing Mahjong.  Every city block has a bridge over the river.

At one point we boarded an Ox Cart with two oxen and a native driver and were taken on a ride through the village across the river.  Throughout the ride we heard load music and eventually we cross a bridge back to the main road and as we progressed toward the bus we passed an outdoor restaurant full of people which had the source of the music.  Just before the bus our Ox driver veered off the paved road up a dirt road toward the farm land.  We passed several farms with oxen and finally he stopped on one place with a large house on stilts and a smaller house behind.  He unhitched the oxen and then gave us a tour of the big house and the smaller one which we gathered was his house with his wife and baby.

It started to rain so we made a mad dash back to the road and the bus.  When everyone reloaded the bus we drove on to the lake of Tonle Sap and the floating villages.  The bus ride to the Lake took about 20 minutes over very rough roads.  I almost hit the roof of the bus several times on the way out and back – not fun!

The floating villages have all the buildings including schools built on pontoons so they can move as the lake level rises and falls during the year.  We boarded a boat in the rain run by just one driver.  The boats have a cockpit like an automobile with three petals, gear shift, and an automotive steering wheel.  The engine in the rear has a long drive shaft to the prop which can be raised out of the water so it can operate in very shallow water.  The boat bottoms are flat and don’t have much of a draw.  Our driver had a heck of a time maneuvering us from the shore where he was tied to other boats for lack of a formal dock.  Eventually we cruised out of the congested area past house boats, pool halls (yes there was a number of floating pool halls), schools, basketball courts (with screened sides and tops) and playgrounds.  The farther out we cruised the guide told us were Vietnamese, many who fled Viet Nam and are not allowed to return.  They fish the lake and rarely set foot on land and are not embraced by the local Cambodians.

We stopped at one of the floating markets the locals use to purchase their food and other items.  When we returned to the starting point we cruised past to a floating school.  The school is sponsored by Grand Circle Tours and when we drove out of town this morning we stopped at a stationary supply stores and purchased school supplies which we handed out to the students.  They sang us some songs and our group’s school teachers led them in some songs and simple lessons.

On our return to the city we stopped at the Les Artisans d’ Angkor school and shop and were shown how locals are trained in stone and wood carving, traditional art, lacquering, gilding and silk production.

Lunch was at a local restaurant followed by a stop at the central market.  It was brief but gave Judy the opportunity to do her favorite thing – shop for grandchildren tourist gifts.

After an afternoon siesta period during which I took a swim in the hotel’s gorgeous pool, we reloaded the bus for a ride to the Cambodia Culture Village.  Similar to the Hawaiian Culture Village, it had beautiful grounds with cultural shows throughout the complex.  We saw:

·         A typical Khmer Wedding Ceremony.  That selected tourists to be the groom and the groom’s parents.

·         Chinese Traditional Dance Show

·         Peacock Dance Show which was performed in a light rain

·         A miniature replica of the Phnom Penh Central Market

·         A miniature replica of the Phnom Penh National Museum

·         A miniature replica of the Phnom Penh Royal Place

·         A miniature replica of a typical Buddhist Monastery

·         A miniature replica of a typical Khmer Village

·         A museum shop

After a short return to the hotel we boarded remoks to tour the city and see the night life before having dinner at a local restaurant that featured a unique puppet shadow show performed a group of orphans.  They use cutouts of the figures that have designs in the figure and read a script.  The restaurant patrons are allowed to go in back of the screen and see the kids performing.  It is really uniquely impressive.

Day 25: Saturday, August 11, 2007:  Cambodia

We had another early start to drive into the country past water buffalo in rice fields to a Silk Farm This farm had a more basic demonstration from the start on a Mulberry leaf to the development of color thread to weaving than the “silk factory” we visited in China.  It really gave us the picture on how silk must have been developed centuries ago.

Returning to the city we stopped at the Raffles Grand Hotel.  The hotel is where celebrities and politicians have stayed visiting Angkor Wat since the 1930’s.  The lounge had a Grand Piano and Bob sat down and displayed his talent.  He played about six songs and finished with “As Time Goes By”.  The Bar had pictures of Jackie Kennedy and others that have stayed at the hotel.  Out the front of the hotel is the Royal Independence Garden which we strolled through to a Buddha Shrine across the street from the Royal Residence.  One of the sights in the Garden are the “fruit bats” hanging in the tall trees.  From the Shrine we walked to a side street where vendors were selling local fruits and food.  Our guide showed us how to eat dried beetles (we passed).  Some of fruit was delicious.

Lunch was at the Angkor Cashew Restaurant.  Cambodia is a major exporter of cashews.

We decided to pass on the optional tour to Banteay Srei Temple (The bus route is twice as long as the route to the lake and the road was reported to be even worse).   Instead we teamed with Bob and Jayne to visit the Miniature Replicas of Angkor’s Temples Museum and tour the downtown area of Siem Reap, visiting some of the sites recommended in my Lonely Planet Guide Book.  We hired two remok drivers for the day.  The Miniature Replica of Angkor Wat had extraordinary detail of the real thing so the pictures we were able to take gave us an excellent overall perspective of the temple.  We also were able to see a replica of the Banteay Srei Temple so we didn’t totally miss the optional tour experience.  From the Replica Museum we headed to the downtown area and the Angkor What? Bar – a local watering hole recommended in the tour guides.  “Angkor What?” is a typical back packers bar, the walls were 100% graffiti with names, dates, city names and messages from all over the world written on even the ceiling.  Our waitress was a young lady from Australia that came to see Angkor Wat in January and has stayed.  The street the bar was located on was full of bars and restaurants.  After a drink at the “Angkor What?” we strolled down the street to an Internet Café where Judy attempted to get her AOL messages and send messages to Wendy and Robin.  Bob, Jayne and I had another drink next door as a flash rain hit the area.  We meet a couple of young woman from England touring Cambodia and Viet Nam and they recommended the local version of Long Island Ice Tea.  Jayne was afraid of the ice but it would not be the same without ice so we took a chance and enjoyed the drink.

We re-boarded our remoks and returned to the Raffles Grand Hotel for dinner.  It also was the best dinner we had on the whole tour.  Judy had her favorite frog legs.  Following diner we attend a Cello Concert at the Children’s Hospital.  The doctor that developed the hospital is from Switzerland and was a part time professional musician in Europe in addition to establishing Pediatric Hospitals in Cambodia.  Initially in Phnom Penh before the Pol Pot purge and then in Siem Reap after Pol Pot’s fall from power.  He is talented but the Concert which he holds every Saturday night is also a plea for funds to keep the hospital going.  Between each number he would lecture the audience on the attitude of the western world that he accuses ignores the plight of the poor children in developing countries like Cambodia.  He blames all the troubles on the western world and although he talked about the rampant corruption in Cambodia he did not see that they should take responsibility for some of the problems.

Day 26: Sunday, August 12, 2007:  Cambodia to Hong Kong

The last full day of our “Overseas Adventure” started with hotel check out and then to a visit of the “Killing Fields” Memorial temple, the Cambodian Army Memorial and War Museum.  I was greatly disappointed by the War Museum.  My guidebook had described how a Cambodian had built a Land Mine Field Museum.  In 2000 he was criticized that some of the mines were live and that the museum painted a negative image of Cambodia and he was jailed.  Soon after he was jailed a Cambodian General opened the War Museum.  The Mine Field Museum founder was eventually released and has rebuilt his museum with foreign help (our Australian waitress from the “Angkor What?” bar’s boy friend is one of those helping to remodel the museum).  In the meantime the War Museum is an embarrassment with rusty and damaged items in an outdoor field overgrown with weeds.  It should be re-titled the “Cambodian Example of Corruption Museum”.

Our flight departed on time with a change of planes in Bangkok.  I had not flown out of the new Bangkok International and it was a big improvement over Don Muang which I had flown in and out of over 50 times back in the 1960 and 70s.

We arrived in Hong Kong after dark and checked into our new hotel.  I think we were the first ones to occupy the room.  I had to move the bedside table to plug in my breathing machine and the floor was dirty with saw dust and construction type of dirt.

Day 22: Monday, August 13, 2007:  Fly to LAX

We had an early wake up for an 8AM flight.  The hotel provided a box breakfast and since we were flying Business Class we were able to use the Northwest Airline Lounge which had snacks.  Our flight had a long layover and plane change scheduled in Narita.  The plane was delayed an hour due to a tropical storm in the area.  We were an hour late arriving at LAX but were fortunate that we were not returning earlier because the two days before our arrival the INS computers had failed at LAX and people were delayed up to midnight before they were cleared to enter the US.

POST TRIP THOUGHTS

It was truly an adventure.  China is a country to be reckoned with – they want to be Number One in everything but are attempting to get there by cutting corners.  Corruption is evident everywhere, in the construction of the roads, buildings and the arrests of leaders we read about in the newspapers.

The most memorable days were not the visit to the Forbidden Place, the Great Wall or the Yangtze River Cruise.  It was the Terra Cotta Warriors, Tibet, the Pandas and Cambodia.

It is amazing how throughout history and in different regions of the world people developed the need to believe in a higher being, the need to follow an individual and allow him to build huge structures using thousands of workers in a tribute to his life.  Every generation in every area of the world has created these “leaders” with large egos and a layer of corrupt officials executing the leader’s orders.

Even though generation after generation in various parts of the world felt the need to have a “God” to explain where they came from and to aid in a happy after life there are still millions of people that don’t believe in a religion yet follow the rule of law and respect others and are moral without a religion.  It can happen but the history of the Asian areas are great examples of the old saying “Power Corrupts”.  The sites we visited on this trip such as the Forbidden Palace, the Summer Palace, the Great Wall, the Terra-Cotta Warriors, the Potala Palace in Lhasa, the Buddha and Hindu shrines and temples are all example of expensive structures built by slave or low wage workers to satisfy the ego of a leader and his corrupt assistants.  It is not just this part of the world; I saw it last spring on my trip to the Yucatan and the Maya Temples; last fall on the trip to Egypt and the corrupt countries in Africa.  It has been going on since the beginning of time all over the world.