Caves and submerging cities

Went to a wondrous Buddhist cave/statuary about two hours from here, our only real chance the students will have to see how the other 75% live. Not
like the cities, nor like agriculture in the countryside in the US. They use every bit of land, and terrace it at that. And there are people in the fields. No machinery. Not like Iowa.

I’m glad I’m here today because in 10 years the valley will be underwater. Though they’re building new projects here to resettle the 1.1 million displaced people in the 23 b project, I like the older buildings
which will be gone.

Chongqing–entry to the Yangtze Gorges

May 14, 2004

I’m sitting in a five star hotel in Chongqing thinking about Troop 19–waiting for our trip down the Yangtze to begin. Some highlights so far:

1) Believe it or not, my Chinese is passable. I got separated from the group at the Great Wall and had to hitch a ride back to the car. I have been able to negotiate food, bargains, etc.

2) Bike rides. Again, unbelievably, we went on the streets of Beijing the other day, which was really neat. We got up early (of course) and biked from our hotel to the Forbidden City (around 4 miles each way), then stopped at a hill overlooking the Forbidden City (where most of the pictures are taken).
Today, we went to the City Wall in Xian, where you can rent bikes. So we did.

3) China has changed a lot since I started coming here 14 years ago. There is

a lot more business. Chongqing has skyscrapers, shops, and shoppers. Lots of building. I remember in 1990 there was little electricity at night. Now there is neon everywhere. Our hotel had an ice skating rink, and I remember Phil Pusateri wowing the locals. Seems like he’d played hockey in high school.

4) Though I have been to most of the places I am going, the thrill of the Forbidden City, the Great Wall, the Temple of Heaven, the terra cotta warriors, remains as it was the first time I saw it. It helps that I am sharing it with students who are seeing it for the first time.

Sort of like some of our scout trips.

In case you are feeling sorry, I am going to do some yoga, swim, and take a sauna before signing off for tonight.

Beijing

Had the most wonderful day in Beijing. Got up at 5:00 and was biking at
5:30 with some students. Went to tiananmen square (was there yesterday at 5 am for the flag raising) then went to a park that overlooks the forbidden city. Always wanted to bike here. Was glad I was off the
street at 8:30. We went to the summer palace, then came back to the hotel. After lunch, one of my students and I went to the old shopping
area and spent about an hour sampling tea and wandering around. Then we
went out for dinner to a Xinjiang restaurant, where the winner of a
contest I lost (happily!) got to dance with a belly dancer and a snake.

Working with the travel agency

I eventually settled on using Value Holidays in Wisconsin because, over time, they knew what I wanted and delivered great trips after great trips. Earlier efforts (e.g., Susie Davis here in Bloomington) were frustrating, because I knew more about the situation than the operators did. I recall one 4 am screaming match in Hong Kong since we had no flights to get us into mainland China.

Usually, I would outline my desires (e.g., hotel near downtown, tip money included, American breakfasts) and the following was one such return from the agent (which proves we did more than covered in this blog):

ILLINOIS WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY

CHINA & HONG KONG

THREE CHINAS THREE BUSINESS SYSTEMS

MAY TERM 2004

Day 1 – Thursday May 6, 2004

FLY CHICAGO TO BEIJING

United Airlines flight

Depart Chicago

Arrive Beijing , May 7

Day 2 – Friday May 7, 2004

TRANSFER: BEIJING AIRPORT TO HOTEL

You will be transferred from the Beijing Airport to your hotel in a private vehicle.

Accommodation: May 7-May 12

NEW OTANI HOTEL

Within the hotel you will find a complete range of facilities such as a health club and a shopping center, all to enhance the comfort of our guests throughout their stay. The attractive guest rooms enjoy an exceptional view of one of the world’s most historic cities. The hotel restaurant offers authentic Chinese dishes, guaranteed to be a most delicious memory. Visit Beijing and experience the unmistakable touch of New Otani hospitality and service.

Breakfast is included during your stay.

Day 3 – Saturday May 8, 2004 [B, L]

FORBIDDEN CITY AND TEMPLE OF HEAVEN

This morning depart your hotel for magnificent Tiananmen Square, the largest public square in the world, where Mao’s picture hangs over the rostrum at the entrance of the Imperial Forbidden City. Walk in the steps of ancient emperors today as you tour the powerful Forbidden City, hidden from public view for over 500 years. This is where Chinese emperors resided and ruled the country for 700 years until the year of 1911.

After a delicious lunch in a local restaurant you will also witness the masterpiece Temple of Heaven, the embodiment of grace and harmony. This is where Ming and Qing emperors prayed for good harvest and it is the largest temple complex remaining in China today. The pomp and grandeur of imperial China lives on in these historic landmarks so integral to the nation’s soul.

Day 4- Sunday May 9, 2004 [B,L,D]

FULL DAY GREAT WALL AND MING TOMBS

Snaking 3700 miles along the country’s vulnerable northeastern boundary, the 2000-year-old Great Wall was constructed as a barrier to protect China from invasion. It was built section by section between the fifth century BC and the 16th century AD. Walk along the Great Wall of China ranks high on the wish lists of many travelers, and your excursion today will confirm that this indeed is one of the world’s greatest travel experiences. Linger at the towers and broad promenades; contemplate on the spectacular scenery, and the lives lost in building this monumental construction that never truly fulfilled its purpose. There is ample time to stroll along its ancient stone promenade and photograph the wall as it winds across impossibly steep mountain areas.

After enjoying a Chinese lunch at a local restaurant you will be driven to the Ming Tombs along the Sacred Way, which features giant marble figures and animals guarding the tomb area for deceased emperors of the Ming Dynasty ( 1368-1644 ). On the way back to the city, you will also visit the Beijing Cloisonne Factory. Cloisonne is famous for traditional enamelware known as the “Blue of Jingtai” in China, with a history of over 500 years. It is one of the famous art and craft forms of Beijing. You will witness this elaborate and complicated process.

PEKING DUCK DINNER Tonight you will be transferred to a prestigious city location where you will enjoy a sumptuous Peking Duck dinner.

Day 5 – Monday May 10, 2004 [B]

BUSINESS VISITS IN BEIJING

Day 6 – Tuesday May 11, 2004 [B]

MORNING SUMMER PALACE TOUR AND AFTERNOON FREE

Day 7 – Wednesday May 12, 2004 [B, L]

HALF-DAY HUTONG TOUR

Today you will learn about the history of Beijing and about Chinese people’s life and feelings on this tour of the Hutongs and the Shiheyuans.

A hutong is an old city lane unique in Beijing. The Siheyuan is a building complex formed by four houses around a quadrangular courtyard. Siheyuans are arranged in rows and vary in size and design according to the social status of residents, and hutong is long and narrow path between each row, dividing the Siheyuans and at the same time connecting them to each other.

This morning your tour will start from the north entrance to Beihai Park on pedicab to the picturesque Shishahai lake area. You will then visit Gu Lou, the drum Tower, where you will enjoy a bird’s eye view of the old city. Then proceed to the neighborhood in the rear of the Shishahai Lake area and walk down the hutongs to drop in one or two courtyard-style homes. Lastly you will visit the mansion and garden of Prince Gong of Qing Dynasty, prior to returning to your hotel at around lunchtime.

Early Afternoon Transfer

BEIJING HOTEL – AIRPORT

Your guide will meet you in the lobby of your hotel. The guide will then transfer you from your hotel to the Beijing airport by private vehicle.

FLY BEIJING TO XIAN

Flight times to be advised – flying time is approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes.

Transfer: XIAN AIRPORT TO HOTEL

You will be transferred from the airport your Xian hotel by private vehicle.

Accommodation: May 12-May 14

ANA GRAND CASTLE

The Ana Grand Castle Xian is conveniently located just 40 minutes by car from the Xian International Airport. Facing the South Gate of the Ming Dynasty, the hotel, with its highly distinctive appearance designed after the model of the Big Goose Pagoda, creates a fabulous atmosphere in harmony with the surroundings. Featuring a spacious and bright atrium lounge, a variety of the newest amenities ensure personalized service with scrupulous care. The famous Bell Tower and the Forest Steel Museum are just a 15-minute stroll from the Ana Grand Castle Xian. The hotel locale gives visitors the opportunity to experience and share in the unique Chinese lifestyle of Xian.

Breakfast is included during your stay.

Day 8 – Thursday May 13, 2004 [B, L, D]

TERRA COTTA & PROVINCIAL MUSEUM

Today, your guide will be waiting for you in the lobby of your hotel for a morning departure. Please note that your local guide will inform you of the exact pick uptime upon arrival into each city.

Walk in the steps of ancient traders and travelers on today’s sightseeing of Xian, the head of the great caravan route once used for shipping silk and other prized Chinese goods to the West. Tour the archaeological site which so far has yielded some8000 terra cotta soldiers and horses, each a unique, finely detailed sculpture. Also tour the Provincial Museum, Big Wild Goose Pagoda, and City Gate. Lunch is included during today’s tour.

TANG DYNASTY WITH DUMPLING BANQUET

This evening, your guide will be waiting for you in the lobby of your hotel for your departure. Please note that your local guide will inform you of the exact pick uptime upon arrival into each city.

The performance at the Tang Dynasty Theatre Restaurant tonight will introduce you to Changan Music and Dance which originated over a thousand years ago in Changan, the capital of the Tang Dynasty, which is now known as Xian. It is during the time of the Tang Dynasty (618AD to 907AD), when China experienced tremendous achievements in culture, the Arts and technology.

Built in 1988,the Tang Dynasty Theater Restaurant is known as “the first Chinese style nightclub” and can hold up to 1,200 people. The entertainment tonight will be performed by the Tang Dynasty Song and Dance Troupe and will include pieces played on unique musical Chinese instruments and dances displaying dramatic masks and costumes.

Day 9 – Friday May 14, 2004 [B, L, D]

Morning: XIAN SIGHTSEEING

Transfer: XIAN HOTEL TO AIRPORT

Early afternoon, your guide will meet you in the lobby of your hotel. The guide will then transfer you from your hotel to the Xian airport by private vehicle.

FLY XIAN TO CHONGQING

Flight details to be advised – flying time is approximately 1 hour and 10 minutes.

CHONGQING AIRPORT TO HOTEL

You will be meet by a representative at the airport, and transferred to the hotel by private vehicle.

Accommodation: May 14-May 16

MARRIOTT or PLAZA HOTEL, CHONGQING

Day 10 – Saturday May 15, 2004 [B, L, D]

DAZU TOUR

Leave Chongqing, and travel through the green heart of Sichuan to Dazu, home of 50,000 stone Buddhist sculptures clustered in hillsides and caverns. Enjoy the scenery; view the colossal reclining Buddha and stirring scenes of village life.

Day 11 – Sunday May 16, 2004 [B, L, D]

CHONGQING SIGHTS

Your Chongqing city touring will include Chongqing Zoo to see the panda, Grand People’s Hall and E’ling Park. Stillwell Museum is currently under renovation and will be open after June. Tour will also include lunch.

Cruise: May 16-May 21 VICTORIA CRUISES – YANGTZE RIVER CRUISE

(CHONGQING TO YICHANG)

VICTORIA CRUISES – DAY 1

After dinner this evening you will be transferred to Victoria Cruises to board the ship.

Day 12 – Monday May 17, 2004 [B, L, D]

VICTORIA CRUISES – DAY 2

Today you will have an excursion to Wanxian or Fengdu

Day 13 – Tuesday May 18, 2004 [B,L,D]

VICTORIA CRUISES – DAY 3

Begin the passage with Qutang Gorge, the shortest & most dramatic of the three gorges. Pass poetic Wu Gorge before anchoring for an excursion on the Shennong Stream or Daning River. Enjoy on board activities tonight.

Day 14 – Wednesday May 19, 2004 [B,L,D]

VICTORIA CRUISES – DAY 4

Sail through the Three Gorge ship locks. Take a morning tour of the Three Gorges Dam Site. Arrive Yichang at noon.

Transfer to Wuhan via coach.

Accommodation : May 19-May 20

SHANGRI LA WUHAN

Day 15 – Thursday May 20, 2004 [B,L]

Morning business visit

FLY WUHAN TO SHANGHAI

Flight details to be advised – flying time is approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes.

TRANSFER: SHANGHAI AIRPORT TO HOTEL (Hotel not yet confirmed)

You will be transferred from the Shanghai Airport to your hotel.

Shanghai: May 20-May 23

Day 16 – Friday May 21, 2004 [B]

BUSINESS VISITS IN SHANGHAI

Day 17 – Saturday May 22, 2004 [B, L]

CITY AND SHANGHAI MUSEUM

Today, your guide will be waiting for you in the lobby of your hotel for a morning departure. Please note that your local guide will inform you of the exact pick up time upon arrival into each city.

Immerse yourself in the culture and sophistication of Shanghai on a full-day tour of the city’s premier attractions. View all manners of Chinese arts, beautifully displayed in the astounding galleries of the Shanghai Museum. Explore the paths and pavilions of Yuyuan Gardens; stroll the waterfront Bund; visit the endearing Children’s Palace. Lunch is included during today’s full day tour.

Day 18 – Sunday May 23, 2004 [B]

FLY SHANGHAI TO Hong Kong

Accommodation: May 23-May 27

NEW WORLD RENAISSANCE HOTEL

HONG KONG AIRPORT – HOTEL

New World Renaissance Hotel is a first class business and tourist hotel conveniently located in the heart of Kowloon’s Tsimshatsui business and shopping center. Within a5-minute walk from the Tsimshatsui MTR (subway) station, and an 8-minute walk from the Star Ferry Pier, New World Renaissance Hotel provides easy access to almost every part of Hong Kong. The 543 well-equipped guestrooms and suites as well as four Club Floors offer exclusive services to all guests.

With five restaurants and lounges, New World Renaissance Hotel offers a multitude of dining choices or even the most particular of guests. Guests can also relax by taking a dip in the hotel’s outdoor swimming pool, working out in the well-equipped fitness center, jogging or walking along the Tsimshatsui Promenade on the harbor-front, and shopping in the adjacent shopping centers and New World Department Store.

Day 19 – Monday May 24, 2004 [B]

HALF DAY CITY TOUR

Pick up from hotel to reach Victoria Peak for a breath-taking 360-degree view of the bustling harbor, Hong Kong Island and Kowloon as far as the eye can see. From Victoria Peak, the tour continues to Aberdeen village to see the many fishing junks and floating restaurants moored there passing by the scenic resort areas of Repulse Bay and Deep Water Bay. The tour will continue with a visit to Stanley Market – a popular open air markets for souvenirs to bring home!

Day 20 – Tuesday May 25, 2004 [B]

BUSINESS VISITS IN HONG KONG

Day 21 – Thursday May 26, 2004 [B]

DAY AT LEISURE IN HONG KONG

Day 22 – Friday May 27, 2004 [B]

Transfer: HONG KONG HOTEL – AIRPORT

You will be meet in the lobby of the hotel by a representative, and transferred to the airport by private vehicle.

FLY HONG KONG TO CHICAGO

It seemed like a good idea at the time, and it was

Reminiscences 2024

There was a World Scout Jamboree in Thailand in January 2003. At the time, I was interested professionally in Scouting (as well as personally). I made it a point to stop at Scout offices abroad, staying at the Scout Hotel in Hong Kong, and meeting Scouters along the way. My troop sported foreign neckerchief slides (who else had Mongolia, or Australia ties?), sometimes patrol patches (Turtle in Maltese, Red Backed Spiders in Australia, great looking Canadian patches), and I was relatively fresh from an Asia Pacific meeting in Hong Kong in 1998. I had even earned a title as an International representative of the W.D. Boyce Council.

At the same time, I had been thinking about a way to return to Angkor Wat (and Phnom Penh) in Cambodia. Carolyn was willing to go, since I had returned safely in 2001. I would miss minimum time at IWU. Let’s go.

A day at the Jamboree let us wander and see Scouts from all over. Including Dr. John Inman, whom we knew from Canyon Camp. He was an active Scouter in a venture crew and national and international Scouting.

The real adventure began when we went first to Phnom Penh. Poor devastated Cambodia still had some pockets of French grandeur. The Raffles currently owns the old colonial hotels. We did see the museum where, increasingly, the treasures of Angkor were being housed, and duplicates replaced them in situ. The market for stolen art dictated some security if possible. There was also the Royal Palace, and the killing fields which had decimated the population.

From there it was deja vu for me–the wondrous ruins of Angkor Wat. By this time, the rebels were pretty much suppressed, the Aussies on summer vacation the most numerous troublemakers.

The jungle always wins. Given time. Some of the buildings have been stabilized with the ficus gripping tightly. But the 12th century Hindu turned Buddhist shrine reflects what’s left of the Khmer greatness. For now.

Fred and Carolyn in Prague and Krakow

Reminiscences 2024

Carolyn joined me at the end of the Cold War trip, and we did our own visits. We visited sights in Budapest, then left for Prague and Krakow. Prague was interesting as a city left alone by the Nazis, who gathered artefacts from Jewish communities (as they were being destroyed) to create a “museum.” Krakow, capital of Poland in the 16th century, also had much of its historical buildings intact. Especially impressive was Wawel Castle, home and burial place of kings and famous Poles. Kosciusko who fought alongside colonials in the American Revolution (and in insurrections to free Poland) is buried there, too. The Jewish sites were pretty depressing because in Krakow for example, there were only about 150 Jews left. Only 10% survived the Holocaust. The cemetery in Prague had many headstones, but the list of the murdered in World War II in one synagogue was a memorial to the dead.

In Budapest, we might have stayed at the Gellert, an art deco hotel from 1918 that incorporated Turkish era baths, which were a feature of the Turkish culture, aided by hot springs in the area.

May 2002 The promise delivered

Reminiscences 2024

While my documentation is sparse, there are enough pictures and memories to attempt to recreate this trip. It was the only one with Dr. Walsh, who had a family emergency that caused him to leave the trip in Budapest and return home. We had an elderly gentleman as a tour guide who was a friend of our tour operator (Value Holidays in Wisconsin) who turned out to be semi useful at best; as I recall, he also had health issues and faded as we did reach Russia.

London was always a highlight, and we reached there in time for a parade celebrating the Queen’s opening of Parliament. The Brits certainly know ceremony, but it’s always instructive to see machine guns on 18th century uniforms, a reminder of the problems of security in the contemporary world. One of the site visit highlights was to Harrods’s, world-famous department store, where I think I bought place card settings.

Paris was next on our agenda, and I remember the trip to the Louvre and Notre Dame. World class art, as always. At the church of St. Denis were the graves of former French kings. The business visit was to the Galaries Lafayette, a major department store in the mode of retail palaces.

The overnight train to Berlin was my first stab into going East. I remember asking the border guards for a passport stamp without success. Our tour guide was useful in steering us to the Pergamon Museum (the museum island is one of the treats of Berlin), which would, in turn, provide an introduction to the amazing ruins in Anatolia where I would see Pergamon and its contemporaries in Greek civilization. We also got to see the church that housed the Hohenzollern mausoleum, with the crypts of many of the Kaisers. Unter den Linden was the fashion street that East Germany showed off, but the wall proved East Germans were prisoners. A heady sight was the old airport, which had a monument to the airlift that saved Berlin during the cold war.

Our guide also arranged a tour of a newspaper, whose owner longed for the return of the Junkers, and the good old days of coddled communism.

I caught a performance of Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana that helped me appreciate that work!

On the way to Prague, one of the classmates discovered we’d go through Dresden. Though that city had been bombed to smithereens in World War II, the opera house (one of Wagner’s favorites) had been rebuilt, and parts of the old city remained.

From there, it was an easy ride to Bratislava, capital of Slovakia, with a charming old town. I had never heard of Bratislava, because it historically was Pressburg, where the Hungarian monarchs were crowned. We stopped at a building that commemorated the victories Napoleon won at Austerlitz, certified in the Treaty of Pressburg.

And of course, Prague. The city Hitler spared as a museum, while he gassed its inhabitants.

Budapest, was once two cities, and once the capital of the Kingdom of Hungary. It has a stunning Parliament building on the Danube, which still has bullet holes from the 1956 uprising. I liked the cigar section of Parliament building, where parliamentarians could leave their cigars and come back to smoke after the session. The Opera House had a special section for Franz Joseph, and of course me.

The Great Synagogue, built in the 1850s in the revival Moorish style was one of the birthplaces of Zionism. It’s the largest synagogue in Europe, and–before World War II, housed a major Jewish neighborhood.

I think I purchased tickets for everyone for the Budapest Opera House, where the orchestra played a Mahler symphony. At least one of us enjoyed the performance! As I recall, several “assumed” it was over after the first movement and went to enjoy other entertainment! Dr. Walsh and I also visited an old restaurant that specialized in exotic animals, such as bear or boar. Yum.

With Dr.Walsh and our tour guide gone, Russia was Moscow, with the massive subways built with slave labor and the Kremlin, where the rulers lived. It was my first trip to Russia, and as I stood there on Red Square, where so many May Day parades touted the greatness of Mother Russ, I noted the McDonalds and KFC. I thought,”The Cold War is Over, and the West won.”

We rode the subway, built by slave labor with incredible art–socialist realism style.

As impressive as the military was, the consumer world behind it was hollow. No wonder the Russian Civ book we read was “Cement.” Fitting.

Culture included the Bolshoi Ballet, and a Tchaikovsky piece based on Eugene Onegin. However, I was really impressed with the Tretyakov Museum near the Kremlin, where I discovered the Russian impressionist painter, Arkhip Kuindzhi, whose birch forest paintings reminded me of places in Pictured Rocks. Lots of Pushin, too.

And the opportunity to buy matryoshka dolls and other souvenirs on Arbat Street.

We took the overnight train to St. Petersburg, and saw the city Peter the Great built to inspire Russians to abandon their non-European features. Castles and Palaces housed splendor until 1917, when the Communist Revolution toppled one dynasty for another. The Hermitage was really impressive, partly because the Romanovs purchased and the Reds confiscated art. To think, the country produced so many wonderful musicians and artist. And, as Leningrad, the city bore the brunt of a Nazi siege for almost two years. Ironically, one of the first things (International Communism be damned) rebuilt was the Palace of Peter and the Amber Room.

Our last night (remember this was May above the 60th parallel, a great time for long white nights) we toured the canals of the city, toasting Moskva! in the easy-to-get vodka that is probably Russia’s primary drink.

We covered a lot of territory, and, as I recall, we traveled by public transportation in many of our cities. That was pretty neat. But be careful to keep your ticket in Budapest. If you didn’t have one, you might get arrested!

May 2002 The Promise

Reminiscences 2024

The End of the Cold War and the Rise of Global Business in Europe

With the end of the Cold War (or so it seemed at the time), the opportunity existed to put together a May Term trip for 2002 that spanned the European continent. This is what we promised.

In his impressive book on the Lexus and the Olive Tree, Thomas Friedman contrasts the conditions surrounding the cold war with those of the current global age, both politically and economically.

Students who select “The End of the Cold War and the Rise of Global Business in Europe” will visit countries and companies to see the results of the globalization on both sides of what was once the Iron Curtain. The trip will take students to London and Paris (both of which conducted “Global Business” in their colonial empires), then to Berlin, which was literally at the center of the Cold War. Prague and Budapest, both centers of European culture that slipped behind the Iron Curtain for nearly half a century, will be visited. The tour will then go to two major cities in Russia—Moscow and St. Petersburg.

We will be visiting both American and foreign companies in these countries, as well as sampling their historical flavor, using the framework of Friedman’s book.

Our 35th–a luxury hotel tour from Bangkok to Singapore

While Carolyn was willing to sacrifice me in Siem Reap, she did join me in Bangkok after I survived for an anniversary tour, our 35^th, from Bangkok to Singapore. The object was to swathe ourselves in luxury hotels, and learn more about these fascinating countries.

Our self-indulgence started in Bangkok at one of the premier hotels. I believe it was the Oriental, whose 150 years of celebrity attraction now included Fred and Carolyn Hoyt. Our trip included the highlights of Bangkok, especially (for me) Ayudhya and its splendid ruins.

We boarded a train that took us down Thailand, to Hua Hin, where we spent a night at the “Railway Hotel,” another on the “must stops” on the tour of the peninsula.

At the border, we were greeted by a driver, who would show us the superhighways and byways of Malaysia, a country whose mix of progressive Islam and Chinese cultures made it one of the most enjoyable discoveries for me of Southeast Asia. It was a great start that our first stop was in Pulau Penang, one of the cities that I’d “discovered” with David as primarily Chinese (the Straits Settlements) dominant. The area housed one of the extensive business hubs on the country, and I would soon get to visit Dell and other operations attracted by low wages, a favorable business environment, and an educated work force.

Not coincidentally, our arrival coincided with the reopening of the refurbished Sarkie Brothers Hotel, the Eastern and Oriental, on the Gulf of Thailand. I could sit there dreamily considering retiring to a bungalow facing the Gulf with my xiao lao po.

The trip took us via superhighway to one of the inland cities, I think Ipoh, a city whose charm (i.e., history and appearance) resembles George Town (Penang). Small shops, Chinese influence.

The trip continued through Malacca and Kuala Lumpur, with a visit I remember to a rubber plantation, where our Hindu guide’s grandfather had worked as a cook. Typical British mix of Chinese, Malay and Indian. He also told us when he married a Malay, he had to raise his children as Muslim.

The crown jewel in this nostalgia trip to the past, of course, was an overnight or two at the Raffles Hotel in Singapore.

Imitating the rich and famous is certainly fun, but I’ll get Carolyn to Siem Reap in the future!

Angkor was awesome

Tue, Jul 10, 2001, 3:53 PM

When “they” left (I paid their departure tax and made sure they left, along with my colleague Ruth Ann), I took a small plane to Siem Reap (which means Siam destroyed–that whole area, my son pointed out, is the Balkans of Asia. Whoever has power destroys those who don’t, until those who don’t, do, and they return the favor), for a visit to Angkor Wat.

I was overwhelmed.

I now understand Bangkok (and much of the rest of South and Southeast Asia), because to be a ruler there means being like the Khmer empire (just as being an emperor in East Asia means temple of Heaven, Confucius, and a writing system that has no relevance to your pronunciation!).

Three days of highlights:

1) The Grand Hotel d’Angkor (after “they” left, I got used to the wondrously expensive restored hotels that I would have stayed in had I been the rich imperialist I crave being!). The Raffles chain got ahold of it and put it back in splendor. In a poverty stricken country, $300 a night is luxurious! Because I was in the jungle (at least temperature wise), my guide and driver dropped me at the hotel from 11-2. I could lounge in the pool (I did, reading a book on Angkor) (only one day making the mistake of standing talking with someone after a swim; sunburn city), take a sauna (only slightly hotter than the outside, but still a treat), or get a massage (a real one!). At 2 they’d pick me up and take me to some spectacular place I’d never been before. And in the evening, the usual Ramayana dancing so typical of the Khmer/Hindu influenced regions.

Question: how can a poor country like Cambodia stage events so much nicer than India. I digress! And an occasional Havana.

Even better, one morning (6 am) they had a Buddhist monk teach meditation. I can still remember him (in translation) telling me to think only of the air (breathe in through the nose and out through the mouth). It helps whenever I get tense. And believe me, I didn’t realize how tense this place makes me until I got back!

Not until the last day did I realize how close the hotel was to the old City. Still lots of old colonial architecture, some bars, and many places selling the same trinkets. Food paled compared to the Rex, but Viet Nam was THE French colony in Asia. Cambodia, I think, was a protectorate.

2) The temples were overwhelming. Four in particular. Angkor Wat is awesome in size, setting, and splendor (only the Gods had stone buildings, so only the Godlike places are left). The pictures don’t do it justice, and I was awed by the sculptures on the walls, which had the story of Good Versus Evil (Ramayana again) and the monkey king, and the history of the regime. The second is Bayon, built by Jayavarman VII (easy for me to say!), with the haunting four heads that are one of the most well-known pictures of Angkor. I finally found a sculpture (typical of Cambodia, I found it in a workshop for the homeless because of minefields!) that captured it (22 pounds; it cost 2x as much to ship as to purchase). Third was the one that they left jungle-like. The jungle always wins, given enough time! Finally, Banteay Srei, which has the most marvelous sculptures (or did!). We came to one place and my guide said, “There was a head on that statue last week.” One thing I would have done differently was to spend a day in Phnom Penh at the National museum. Some of the statues are there, replaced with virtually similar reproductions.

3) Two and a half days were probably enough. The area is huge. It must have been a wondrous city in its heyday. Cambodia, today, though, is a mess. As I mentioned, we went to three or four places that had been mine fielded (if that’s a word). Unlike Laos, they did much of it to themselves (and still are doing some damage; a bomb blew up last week in Phnom Penh). But it was a lot safer than Carolyn thought it would be when she was willing to sacrifice me…..now to convince her to come with me.

4) I took seven rolls of film with the kids–and eight rolls in three days at Angkor!