Fred Hoyt – Page 35 – Fred Hoyt's Travels

Love the Baltics

August 8 2005

We’re nearing Stockholm, on what Carolyn described as our “soldiers in the army” approach.

After the wondrous mediaeval city of Tallinn, (joke–named after the soviet leader from the 40s), which included the tallest building in the world–circa 1600, naturally a church–we came to the imperial city of the Russian Czars. Though I’ve been to St. Petersburg before, I’m still in awe of the wealth the Czars had. So much that even though I had been here before, we saw only one place I’d been to! One of the palaces was built by Peter I because it was halfway between the city and the naval base. I would love to be able to say, “build me a castle here, spend anything you wanted, and outdo the French”. The architect succeeded in all counts. The Hermitage is similar—built as a palace, then as a house for the extensive artwork purchased or pilfered by the Czars and later the Soviets, it’s an awesome place, full of paintings and people. When we had our free time (if it’s 2:00, we must be in the Rembrandt room!), I wandered into the Asian art, which I had to myself. There were murals ripped from the walls of Caves Dave and I had visited in central Asia, and Indian sculptures that “were in the Berlin museum until 1945)! Wondrous stuff indeed, but so ostentatious one wonders why the Russian peasants tolerated it until 1917! And much busier and seemingly more prosperous than I remembered, but we have had little contact with locals other than guides, and guides represent the chamber of commerce!

We went to a folklore dance in one of the former grand duke palaces, which featured Cossacks, I (along with several of the other Jews aboard—the record of antisemitism in the Baltics isn’t confined to the Nazis), whispered to Carolyn, “These are the folks who convinced my Dad’s family to flee to the US).

Yesterday, we stopped in Helsinki, and I have to admit we had little to prepare us for it. Almost, “Oh, are we going there?” Again, a wonderful surprise–neither medieval nor majestic, but full of neat architecture, and–for the first time on the trip, an opportunity to wander aimlessly (the downside of the tour trips!). I had reindeer for lunch, and I hope Rudolph will not hold it against me for Christmas. Cause I’ve been behaving–hard as it might be! The Scandinavian countries (north side of the Baltic plus Denmark) are among the richest countries in the world, though the populations are really small–under 5 million.

Great trip, full of mediaeval and majestic–St. Petersburg is full of the lavish wealth of Russia, all squandered by the Tsars on themselves, while most of the other cities spent time between Sweden and Denmark in the early period, then the Knights, then Sweden/Poland, and finally Germany/Russia. Saw a wonderful performance in St Pete by Cossacks, the same wonderful folks who helped me be an American.

One revelation occurred at the Amber Room of the Catherine Palace in Tsarskoye Selo. The panels for the room were gifted to Catherine by Frederick of Prussia, and vanished during Nazi occupation. Ironically, the room, symbol of Russia, was one of the first items Stalin rebuilt–Stalin being the exemplar of world-wide communism!

Helsinki was a treat, but these northern Scandinavian countries are wealthy!

One thing they never warned us about: the Baltic is a shallow sea, so when it gets stormy, it rocks. I remember reading, “The World is Flat,” in a storm, and was ready to challenge Thomas Friedman’s title as the ship tilted and drawers opened and closed.

Carolyn has described our shore time as “soldiers”, but it’s been a great pace on shore, and kind of fun aboard–especially doing yoga on the foredeck! Not enough time for me to wander aimlessly, though!

Cs on the High Seas

On the seas–first C was for castles. Rented a car in Copenhagen and went where Carolyn wanted–to the castle at Elsinore, setting for Hamlet, a wonderfully dismal setting for a wonderfully dismal play; two other castles. Then we joined the cruise, where we lowered the average age by 20 years (key question–what did you do before you retired?); Copenhagen is full of castles and we saw lots of them.

The next C was cod, for where we went to an island that had a round church (which was also a castle–protection for the local folks) but the island is the biggest supplier of cod for the McD chain!

Today we were in Gdansk, which was 70 percent destroyed during World War 2, but has been restored (under the communists). Delightful city, with castles and churches. Highlight was seeing Lech Walesa museum and him in person. He said he hopes he is the last revolutionary (led Solidarity, which unraveled the Iron Curtain), because then no one would have to tear down his statues. Neat day.

May have better access tomorrow. We’ll be on land at a hotel in Vilnius. Been doing yoga on deck–it’s great.

Early Tibet

June 3, 2005
Two days ago, I was in Tibet with JR. I am really glad he suggested that we go, because it was a nice addition to our coastal visits to “modern Asia.” Indeed, when we landed in Chicago, it almost reminded us of every other city we visited in Asia–except for Lhasa.

As I mentioned, we went early Tibet (early ta rise, early ta bet), but it’s a long way from Beijing–at least 50 years and several thousand miles. It left me breathless, both literally and figuratively.

Literally, Tibet resembles Wyoming. Lhasa (400,000) bills itself as the world’s highest city. It is on the Tibetan plateau, which is only 11,800 feet–I say only, because it’s surrounded by mountains that must be over 15000-18,000 feet. It was hard breathing because we were consuming less than 60 percent of the oxygen at sea level, and when we got there, we had an acclimation day. We spent the day driving from the airport (on what I understand is the best paved road–I don’t know how the Chinese managed to “liberate” the city since Tibet is still almost impenetrable), walking around the old city (our hotel was in the center of the old city, near the main monastery), and collapsing around 7 pm, a product of a late night in Beijing the night before and the altitude. Those of you who know my habits, realize that I don’t sleep that much ever–woke up at 7 the next morning! Scenery is high desert–and the cowboy hat seems to have replaced the local scarf. It also took breath away because instead of incense, the Tibetans burn yak butter, which is pungent (they also have yak tea, which the guidebooks say is an “acquired taste”–needs more than one day to acquire the taste, apparently.

it took our breath away figuratively because it’s much different than the rest of China. That it is part of China is a tribute to the idea of the middle kingdom, which is China’s name for China–between heaven and earth. Whatever has been Chinese (ever), is and must be Chinese today (As I mentioned, European domination is recent–and over). There is a monument to the 16th century treaty by which the Ming emperor defined relations with the Dalai Lama as uncle/nephew. In the 1950s, China “liberated” Tibet, which is why there is a huge monument in Lhasa, and not always subtle reminders that China is the dominant power in the region. Our guide, who is of Tibetan nationality, told us he had to be careful in public because there were spies everywhere. Since riots in 1989, the government has been wary of Tibetan Buddhism, taking over festivals and controlling the monasteries.

The Buddhist palaces and monasteries are breathtaking, too. The Buddha as I mentioned takes different forms in different countries, absorbing the previous deities, and thus in Tibet are wondrous bodhisattvas (people who could have achieved Nirvana, but have stayed on earth to help others achieve enlightenment), with horse heads, and bear heads, and are demonic–I’ve not seen them elsewhere.

We spent 2 days in Lhasa, literally stupafied (look that up) by 17th century monasteries and palaces.

The Potala Palace is stunning, as you can see (it had one “outhouse” that was basically a seat over a 200 foot drop). The main square (crawling in front of it is standard) as I recall has a monument to the first treaty with China, in which Tibet said it was the little brother, China was the big brother. China never forgot and big brother returned in force in 1950. The Dali Lama fled.

The long journey back to the Midwest started from Lhasa (LXA is the airport code) and took us back to a frantic night in Beijing with a wonderful driver who spoke no English, but who was really helpful and like most Chinese appreciated my Chinese, or efforts to make myself understood.

JR pointed out that the cab looked like a government car with tinted windows. Sure enough, I looked at it and realized it was a “hong qi” or red flag. I did not know they still made the car, which at one time was the official car. That was neat.

We left Beijing and 30 some hours later; we were back in the Midwest. Confucius once said (from the vantage point of Mt. Tai, one of the sacred mountains–I have been there!) the earth is small. Obviously, he never did international travel.

It’s good to be home, but it was fun to wander around Asia and realize once again the challenge of the 21st century!

Send them home from Beijing: on to Tibet

May 28, 2005

Today was our last day in Beijing, and the students have loaded their suitcases (many needed new ones to haul away their purchases!) for the long ride home. They leave at 7 from the hotel (am) and will get to Chicago at 10 pm the same day. I told them it is the longest day of their life. JR and I will be leaving at 5:30 am for the airport, and then to the 12,000-foot Tibetan plateau. I have never been there, so this part of the trip will be new for me.

I hope my adventures will whet your appetite for coming here. A wise person once told me the more you know, the more you can enjoy things; I would add that the more you travel and observe, the more things you can enjoy. I will be wearing my vest as we go to a colder climate, (Beijing’s actually been very pleasant–warm, but not too hot, with cool nights), and my motto’s on it: Bring on the Adventure.

Beijing: the Great Red Sun

May 27, 2005

Mao called himself the “great red sun”, but the great red sun comes up quite early here in Beijing. I know because I was up before the great red sun this am–at 3:30 am to see one of the neatest features of a stay in the capital city–the raising of the flag by the People’s Liberation Army at sunrise–at 4:51. The flag raising ceremony takes 2 minutes and seven seconds, which is how long it takes the sun to come over the horizon. We joined about a million people (there are always a million people at anything in Beijing) and the PLA practiced sort of like troop 19 before raising the flag to the national anthem of the PRC.

At 5 am, we started around the Forbidden City for one of my favorite activities–climbing coal hill. The “hill” was formed when the Ming dynasty made Beijing its capital about 500 years ago–partly from the ruins of the palace of the Great Khan, partly from the dirt dug to make the moat around the Forbidden City. The park (also famous as the site where the last Ming emperor hanged himself in 1644) is open at 6, so we went in and did what the locals do–some taiqi, some dancing, some calligraphy, and a climb of the 120 foot hill to take the pictures of the Forbidden City that reveal how large it is (9999 rooms, so they say, but a four column pavilion is a room)–do some yoga, and scream (I don’t know why people scream, but they do!).

About half the students went back to the hotel for breakfast or bed, but about 8 of us traipsed on to a local neighborhood for a local breakfast which included some dim sum, you tiao (look that up in your Chinese dictionary) and something resembling an egg mcmuffin–a fried egg on a sesame-baked bun that was yummy.

We then walked back for one of the highlights of Tian An Men Square—a visit to the Mao Mausoleum, where the chairman is embalmed and buried. The scene is a zoo! First, you have to leave your camera and bags at a government-sponsored checkroom; a local tout jumped in to get money from us for helping us navigate the checkroom line, then the checkroom attendant took money from us while we prayed that we would get our cameras and backpacks back. The million-person line (note the theme here) was busy, but moved rapidly past the bier. Unlike the tomb of Ho Chi Minh in Viet Nam, which is solemn, we exited the tomb into the Mao Shopping Center and Mall. I made a pun at one stand selling Mao pens. A pen in Chinese is a mao bi so I asked for a Mao mao bi. They like puns, which is why I like China! (one of many reasons!).

By then it was only 10 and we went to Liu Li Chang, which is the antique street. JR and I discovered a tea store there (we like to think of it as “our t store”) which provided at tea ceremony and a chance to sample u long, jin lung and a variety of other teas, ,which did not deter me from purchasing my still favorite, lichee red, which I haven’t found in the US.

By this point, we would already put in our 8-hour day, but had to get back to the hotel for a talk by the president of John Deere in China. One of my students who came here with me is a lawyer for John Deere, and he set the talk up. It was a great way to cap our business visits, because he talked about the great challenge China faces in agriculture; even if 240 million Chinese moved off the farms, that would increase the per capita acreage to 2.4 acres, versus about 200 for each American farm. In other words, the development of the cities has not kept pace in the countryside. I think I would have understood more of the talk if I’d been from Iowa (just kidding). He has young children who attend the International School.
.

Yesterday was almost as hectic–it began with yoga at the workers stadium where we are living (it will be jumping in 2008 when the Olympics are in Being). We then went to a variety of neat places, beginning with the Lama Temple. Don’t know if you saw the Qian Lung emperor exhibit in Chicago last year, but he ruled China for much of the 18th century–about as long as Louis XIV–and built many of the monumental buildings in Beijing. He also tried to harmonize the 56 nationalities’ of China (our guide calls China a melting pot, but 92% of the Chinese are Han), including the Manchurians, Mongolians, and Tibetans. Qing China had four official languages, those three plus Han Chinese. Anyway, Qian Lung built the Lama Temple for the Tibetans, and it makes me want to go to Tibet even more—Buddhism tended to absorb other local religions (it became more Chinese than Indian in China)and so it absorbed the demons of Tibet in some awesome and awful postures. Hope to bring a statue back!

The same neighborhood has the Confucian Temple. Confucius was the patron saint of politics and society for centuries, and his heavy hand still provides guidance for much of Chinese society. To become an official for nearly 500 years, you had to memorize the Confucian classics (creating much confusion!). The best students got the best government jobs, and got their names written on the stone steles in the Confucian temple. Sort of like being Phi Beta Kappa.

We also visited Beijing University (the Illinois Wesleyan of China), which is the “Imperial University of Confucianism” today. It has about 13,000 undergraduates (China has a small percentage of students in college), but the cream of the crop. Each of the 33 provinces names 3 top scholars; of those, 99,40% attend Beijing University. We met with one of the premier teachers in Insurance (my second is a professor of insurance, Tim Query), and he said she wrote the insurance laws in China! We also met with a few interesting students. One spent a year in France, and she and JR talked French so I could not hear all they said (but I did anyway since I know French, too).

After the visit, we went to another of these tourist-oriented shows, one I had not seen before. It was an acrobatics show, but combined a lot of gymnastics and tortuous positions (balancing 35 people on a bicycle) that I may be able to do if I keep up with my yoga.

I’m eager to see you all next week. Not sure if there is internet easily available in Tibet, but I’ll try to reach you from there.

Beijing

May 25, 2005

Two days in Beijing

Though I have been to Beijing many times in the past, I still am in literal awe when I’m in what the Chinese think of the center of the Universe.

We arrived, as I said, after a lengthy trial from Macau, just as the explorers of old did. We got to the old terminal (now used for domestic flights) and were taken to the Workers’ Stadium hotel, which is actually housed in a soccer stadium built for the 1990 Asian games. It also serves as a hostel, which is to say that the facilities are nice, but the amenities are lacking. For example, they neither sell stamps nor take cards, and it’s a good thing I speak the rare Fred dialect, because their English is worse than my Chinese. I was a little disappointed that we are far from the center of the city, but this is a new neighborhood to explore!

Our days are filled with one spectacular sight after another, and I can only imagine how it must have been from people coming from less developed countries–say Bloomington Illinois–when they arrived in the Middle Kingdom. Walking through the Forbidden City (as we did yesterday), literally in awe of its 9999 rooms, I still wonder why the British ambassador refused to kowtow to the emperor, which was one of the Chinese demands on the West. When the British refused, one result was the Opium War, the beginning of an anomaly in Chinese history–a century and a half when the barbarians ruled China. From the Forbidden City, home of two dynasties and 24 emperors (until 1911) we went to the Temple of Heaven.

In an agricultural society, harvest is critical, and one of the main functions of the emperor was to pray for good harvests. What we found, however, was that much of Beijing is in the process of being prepared for the coming Olympic Games. When I was here in the 90s, China tried and failed to secure the Olympics. Those of us who had been here knew why–the toilets and infrastructure could not have accommodated the mobs. The great leap forward (actually that refers to a Mao fiasco) in the last ten years have really made a difference, but some of the historical structures, as we discovered, were closed.

In the evening, we went to the Beijing opera, which is a combination of singing and acrobatics and kind of neat (if it’s opera for foreigners; otherwise it’s more like what some of you think Wagner is like). It was opera for foreigners, so we enjoyed it.

This morning, I went outside the stadium, ran, and did yoga, which drew a great deal of applause from the locals, who do tai chi and a lot of stretching, at least the old people do (my age).

That began another day of taking students to things they had only seen on TV and dreamed about doing. We went to the Great Wall, which stretches over 3000 miles from central Asia to the Gulf of Petchili, and passes about 50 miles north of Beijing. I remember the first time I went on a two-lane road–weaving among the horse carts. Today it is a superhighway.

There is now some choice of Great Wall sights, since they have rebuilt great stretches of it. I took the class to Badaling, which has the most people and the pushiest vendors–that is part of the experience. We climbed over 680 feet, and I realized that the first emperor and his successors had been wise in building the wall because, while it never kept the barbarians out (or the Chinese in); it is a great tourist attraction!

The other highlight in that area is the tombs of the Ming emperors. You have seen pictures of the stone animals that guard the valley; if you haven’t I may show you mine, and some of you will get postcards of them.

We had a free night, so some of the students went to Pizza Hut, while over half elected to go to a Xinjiang restaurant that serves central Asian food and has a wonderful floorshow–something they could not find in Bloomington.

Tomorrow we have another day of being taken to wonderful sites, but I’ll save that until we visit them!

Overnight in Macau

May 24, 2005
Wanted to write from Macau, but instead I can write about Macau. We took the jetfoil from Hong Kong and went about 30 miles (Macau is at the west end of the Pearl River Delta and Hong Kong on the east), but went from Britain to Portugal and from 2005 to probably 1960. Portugal controlled Macau from 1511 until it became the last bit of foreign territory to return to its Asian owners in 1999; it was almost the first, and certainly was the last bit of Europe in Asia.

I had been to Macau before, but only once overnight, and not since 1997. It still has some charming Portuguese style buildings, colored in the pastels of the Mediterranean. Its other claim to fame is that it has legal gambling, and the Chinese love to gamble. The problem for Macau, economically, is that other Asian countries are now permitting gambling (Malaysia in the Genting Highlands is one that comes to mind) and so Macau is more open to Chinese tourists from the Mainland than it was a few years ago.

The highlights of this small (less than 1/2 million people) special administrative region (besides gambling casinos):

1) The wondrous Portuguese architecture, the most prominent being a church that was destroyed except for the facade. Fr. Xavier, of the Jesuit order, preached here, and Macao was one of the early entry points for mission work in China.

We had dinner at the 1870 former military club, which featured African Chicken and roasted codfish, Portuguese dishes, and incredible ambiance. The women in our group dressed in the clothes they have been buying and looked super.

2) Portuguese is still one of the official languages, though there were only 5000 Portuguese at best, and it was not required in the schools.

3. Several years ago, I stumbled into the temple where. in 1844, the United States signed the first treaty with China, one that gave us most-favored nation status–the right to have special treaty ports like those the British got in the Opium War.

4) a great Scout shop. JR and I made it there and if there is a cobra patrol, we have Macanese patches! Wait till you see the ASM epaulets!

After JR and I got back from the Scout shop (housed in the former coast guard building; it fronts the ocean and has cannon–I doubt the Bloomington shop will duplicate it–hafta show you pictures), we began the long and tortuous journey to Beijing.

We got on a bus, which took us to the border. At the border we had guide #2 who took us through a terminal (exit from Macau) to another terminal (entrance to China) where we got guide number 3, who took us on a bus for an hour to Zhuhai, one of the special economic zones north of Macau, airport. It is a domestic flight from Zhuhai to Beijing, but an international one from either Macau or Hong Kong, both much more expensive. We spent about 8 hours between waiting for the bus, customs, and the plane (in an un-air conditioned airport, I might add), but the upside was getting to visit Macau, whose return to China, as I said, ended five centuries of European rule in parts of Asia.

We are in Beijing now, having toured the Forbidden City and the Temple of Heaven, but I’ll tell more about that probably tomorrow.

Hong Kong

May 21, 2005

I have probably been to HK as much as any city in Asia; I have also stayed here probably longer than any other city. No matter how often, no matter how long, it is not enough. As I’ve said, I think, it has one of the finest locations in the world, with the Peak and the harbor highlighting the city.

Once a harbor for piracy (some things haven’t changed), it became a British possession after the Opium War in the 1840s; with the communist takeover in 1949 of the mainland, HK attracted a lot of entrepreneurial Chinese who have made the city, as the city says “Asia’s World city”. It is 7 million or so, with the main areas as settled and dense as any city in the world.

The fusion of East and West, I think, was captured last night for me when we (some of us anyway) went to a concert. The Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra wore the old Chinese gowns and played almost all Chinese instruments—the erhu substituted for the violin, for example. The music honored French/Chinese month, so they played some Ravel, more traditional Chinese pieces, and a few commissioned works, including one based on Bolero. I got the composer’s autograph.

We have toured a few businesses –UPS and Chase Morgan (the latter thanks to a student who went on this trip five years ago) and learned that others are as excited about the potential for Asia (especially China) economically as you read about in the paper. The Chase researcher was really harried because he had worked with the revaluation to the dollar peg here for the past few days.

We had a free day yesterday, so some of us went to the World’s largest Buddha (yes, Adam is not!) or at least largest Bronze, which will lead some other Asian country to build a bigger one soon. The rivalry out here is sometimes like IWU and Millikin, or better , Troop 19 and the world!

We are off to Macao, and I’m eager to spend a day and night there since I haven’t been there since 1997. In 1999, it became part of China, ending four centuries as a Portuguese colony, and closing 500 years of European rule in China.

Believe it or not, and I don’t, I saw a special on the mainland position on the internet in China. While the China Daily, the mouthpiece of the regime, still talks about boys who spend so much time on the internet that they fail their classes (a universal problem) and steal money until their parents and teachers “reeducate” them and they write letters begging the government to ban the internet, in mainland China I expect will be much changed.

The Road to Singapore

May 18, 2005
The Road to Singapore

The movie, the Road to Singapore, was before most of your time–in fact, it was so long ago it was before MY time. However, that is the road we travelled over the weekend, leaving Melaka by train for the four-hour ride to Singapore. Unlike the last time, I arrived by train, and there were no dogs at the station to sniff our suitcases, looking for drugs (possession is a death penalty here); instead, we had a customs inspection, followed by a return to the train which took us to downtown Singapore to our hotel.

A few facts:

Singapore has about 4 million people, about 70% Chinese, the remainder Muslim and Indian mostly. It is incredibly well run–the same party has been in power since independence in 1967, and in fact the hand of Lee Kuan Yew as now minister mentor is all over it (sorry for the spelling, it’s a strange computer). The unemployment rate is 1.2%; the average income is about $24,000, and it is incredibly clean.

It is an important city in history, and we went to part of it yesterday; in 1942, the impregnable fortress at Singapore fell to the Japanese despite having the reputation for being the bastion of Western supremacy in Asia. The Japanese did what we did–they came down the peninsula from the landside, and most of the guns were trained on the sea. Western supremacy never recovered. We explored an old fort as part of our visit, and it had a moving history of Singapore under Japanese domination, (they punished the local Chinese for supporting Chiang Kai-shek by putting them on barges and throwing them in the ocean).

Fortunately, the city’s recent history is more kindly, as the income level indicates. To give you some idea of the excellence in their service businesses, Changi airport is usually one of the top two in the world (#2 this year). It has a swimming pool–need I say more.

I have used a tailor here over the years. It’s been four years. He welcomed me and asked about Carolyn, who had been here with me in 2001.

And I had a beard then!

The Raffles Hotel is here too, an elegant remnant of the old days.

We had a great visit with the Caterpillar Logistics folks this afternoon, thanks to Bob Hinshaw. The man who spoke would be fun to work for–his territory runs from Australia to North China to India. And he’s from Iowa.

We are going out to dinner in a few minutes so better close, but rest assured there’re some Scout souvenirs from here!

Pulau Penang

May 12, 2005
We’ve crossed the border into Malaysia, one of my favorite countries in Asia, and into one of my favorite cities, Penang. When I say it’s all karma, I can use as an example getting to Penang. Eight years ago, my son and I were on a train from Bangkok to Singapore when our fellow travelers told us to stop at Penang. After consulting the Lonely Planet guide book, we broke our journey and spent a full day exploring the city, which has wonderful colonial architecture, great history (almost 200 years of it–the British valued it as a naval base to control the Straits of Malacca, and named it for the Malay word for betel nuts, which used to grow in abundance), and wonderful food. We had such a neat time here, that I brought Mrs. Hoyt here four years ago, and wanted to share the city with my students this year.

We have been busy all day–tour of the city, a visit to the Dell Asia plant (if you have a notebook, it was made here), and some wondrous food. Malaysia is 28 million people, about 60% Muslim, 38% Chinese and 12 % Indian, reflecting (do not check my math) the makeup of the colonial country. Our guide, an Indian, had a grandparent who came to stoke fires in the rubber plantations. What that means is great diversity, and wonderful food. The hotel we are at serves roti for breakfast, and we had tandoor chicken for lunch. This evening we went to a hawker court, which was full of food stands, having satay and the variety of foods that are Chinese, Indian, and Malay. Does not get much better than that.

Alas, at 6 am, we are on our way to Kuala Lumpur, or as it is known out here, KL.