Fred Hoyt – Page 38 – Fred Hoyt's Travels

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

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 `12 century Hindu turned Buddhist shrine reflects what’s left of the Khmer greatness. For now.

May 2002 The promise delivered

While 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 who was a friend of our tour operator (Valueholidays 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 Harrod’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. World class art, as always. At the church of St. Denis were the graves of former French kings. 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. Unter den Linden was the fashion street that East Germany showed off, but the wall proved East Germans were prisoners. 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. 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 Bra tislava, 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, once two cities, and once the capital of the Kingdom of Hungary. It has a stunning Parliament building on the Danube, which has bullet holes from the 1956 uprising. I liked the cigar section of Parliament building. The Opera House had a special section for Franz Joseph, and of course me. The stunning

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.

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

welcome to the people’s palace–the subway

the Russ, I noted the McDonalds. I thought, “The Cold War is Over, and the West Won.” As impressive as the military was, the consumer world behind it was hollow. No wonder the Russian Civ book we read was “Cement.” Fitting. 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 on 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.

May 2002 The Promise

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 Freedman 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 whom 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 Freedman’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 Jayavraman 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, Bantay 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 Pnomh 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!

Less than 80 days but it seemed more

7/3/2001

Some highlights from around the world:

for me, London was kind of neat, even though we were only there 2 days (we were only every 2 days, except Saigon!). I think we are going to visit > next spring break because it’s “only” seven hours away! I hadn’t been there before.

I enjoyed their anguish in India. It is an acquired taste, and has changed far less than I had hoped. We sat with a brilliant economist in an enclave in Delhi. His comment: “Infrastructure doesn’t matter.” I thought about that for much of the trip, especially in countries that had it. It matters if quality of life matters! He had to breathe that air and navigate through the hordes. India may well be the most photogenic country in the world (I love the colors!), but it is still the least habitable. When we were there in 1997, we were with a private car and there were three of us. With a tour bus, the hordes descended on us, and my Bloomington students got to see things they only read about in books. But to have > seen the Taj not once, but twice…. And I loved Indian foods (which were “too spicy” for some of my students; others got “Delhi belly” and did not eat foreign foods the rest of the trip). One came in and said, “Hoyt, we gotta talk about my bowel movements.” “What’s the problem?” “They’re different. They come every hour.” “Are they solid?” “Yes.” “Don’t worry. I’ll bet they’re even a different color!” “How did you know!”

They were glad to escape India, but many of them, soured by the experience of “differentness” stuck close to the familiar. As my colleague and I wondered, “why are 2 59 year olds, who’ve been to many of these places, more adventuresome than 20 year olds who have not?”

Bali is an awesome place. One of my crappy colleagues, who fancies himself an expert on Indonesia, spread the rumor that Indonesia would be unsafe and wasn’t Fred concerned? I found out about it second (and third hand)–from students taking my trip who he’d said this to in class (class act). We monitored the situation, and while Jakarta and Aceh etc. are volatile, Bali’s biggest problem is too many tourists. We stayed at an elegant beach resort (Intercontinental) that brought me back into favor. But offered a chance to explore the island and its unique culture or staying poolside, 12 of them opted for poolside (it was the only opportunity they had to turn down a cultural or site visit!). Two drunks got into their 14 year old modes when told they had to attend the cecek dance. Quivering lower lip (that I see so often with my scouts) and the “you can’t make me attitude”…my response was yes I can and I will (should have punished them and made them stay in the hotel). They did thank me afterwards, and as I pointed out, they had so much scheduled activity since they did not seem to know how to use “free time!” (Someday they will thank me, but not that week!).

They enjoyed HCMC, but I keep forgetting that for them the Viet Nam war is “history.” We spent four days in Saigon (the longest anywhere, and just about the right amount of time), with tours of the delta, etc. Our guide was an ARVN lieutenant (which gave a different perspective; he hates the north and is about to evacuate to the US, one of the true victims of the Vietnam War; in Cu Chi, he showed us where he got his scar). It is sobering for Americans to go through the war museum. My colleague was offended by its propaganda value, but as I noted, it’s great to go somewhere where pc means something different–and besides, they won! The food was great (students liked the Italian restaurant). Breakfast at the Rex set the bar too high for the rest of the trip: Choice of any or all of the following–pho, miso (the empire of Japan was out in force), four types of cereal, eggs and bacon, pancakes, dumplings, wondrous spread of
fruit–jackfruit, mango, etc., and the piece de resistance, baguette, pate, and ham and cheese. One of my self-described “picky” eaters had a hard time with this. She said she could eat either ham or cheese but not both on the same plate.

They will thank me for this someday.

2001 May term around the world

Ironically, my trip around the world with students was just before 9/11, which closed much of the flat world. I was inspired by Brian Engelland, a fellow marketing academic, when he’d been in business. It was ambitious. London was our first stop, and I had not been there before. I realized it was an easy trip across the Pond (and subsequently did some long weekend conferences in England). Students loved the England part—the plays (Shakespeare in 90 minutes), the soccer atmosphere (they partied after a Man U game), and the general familiarity of being in the English-speaking world. The euphoria lasted until we got to India—105 degrees at midnight and 3000 feet- a different world. I am not sure they came out of the hotel to drink, and they worried about the new foods and smells. Viet Nam provided some relief—Pringles were available. I loved staying at the un-gentrified Rex, as had the journalists during the American War. I remember the incredible breakfast, that nodded to the wondrous tastes around the world–Japanese, Chinese, French (jambon and baguettes), incredible fruits (no durian, however). In Bali, the poolside bar at Bali allowed some students to avoid the tour of the Hindu-based Island in the largest Muslim country in the world. In India, we had a great visit with Sambit in Delhi-—in a gated community that lost power periodically and had its own generator. Quality of life? How much do you tip? That got a discussion of wages around the world. Satisfying if exhausting. I followed it up with a stay at Siem Reap. Carolyn assured me if I survived, she would consider going to Angkor Wat. (At the time, bandits roved in Cambodia, seeking, ransom victims, which I hoped did not included IWU faculty members). That will be a separate entry.

Old Japan and Old Korea

While Carolyn joined me at the end of the Technos trip, it was to explore old Japan and old Korea.

By old Japan, I had in mind Kyoto and Nara, where World War II had not flattened the buildings or firebombed them, partly because Secretary of War Henry Stimson had honeymooned there. Tourists ought to sing his praises.

While Nintendo claims Kyoto as its headquarters, it is better known for having been the capital of Japan from 794 until 1869. Known as Heian, it exudes charm, with the Kyoto palace buttressed by several buddhist shrines. It has an older section of the city which was where “Memories of a Geisha” was filmed, and I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s where we stayed. Talk about “customer service”. With kimonos in our room we were transported back in time to greater luxury and ambience. One evening, three meals, two treasures the cost, and worth it. Ryokan is the category.

If the city resembles a Tang dynasty capital–Chang’an (Xi’an) or Luoyang, it’s no accident. the “peaceful capital” (Heian) was modeled after those imperial cities. Isn’t that what it meant to be an emperor in Asia, even in the land where the sun comes up? (Nihon).

Nara was an 80 year prelude as the first capital of Japan, which later moved to Kyoto where it remained for a thousand years. Again, I felt we were in Tang China, which provided the feng shui for the layout of the city. It still houses 8 UNESCO heritage sites, but one of the unusual features is the protected deer park, which ecompasses the temples and shrines. The Todaji temple is the world’s largest wooden building. Fittingly, its sister cities include Xi’an and Kyongju.

As part of our tour of Tang China’s imitators, I wanted to take Carolyn to Kyongju, at one time the fourth largest city in the world, It was the capital of the Shilla Kingdom from 57 BC until 935 AD. I’d been to the “museum without walls,” but couldn’t get enough of the ancient splendor. The peak was the 7-9th century when the Shilla ruled most of the Korean peninsula. Today, historic buildings such as the Bulguksa (Buddhist) temple, the observatory, the bell, and the mostly un-excavated mounds evoke a splendid past. The buddha in the cave (Seokguram) is the most beautiful buddha I have ever seen.

The one disappointment I had was that when I had been in Korea in 1997, it was during the cherry blossom time. Gumi, our base then, was resplendent white. When Carolyn and I went through it on the train to Kyongju, all we saw was a naked industrial city.

Technos and my introduction to Japan

On of the strongest connections of IWU withs Asia was with the Technos Institute of Tokyo. Minor Myers hit it off with the head of Technos,

Kenji Tanaka, who founded a basically vocational college (mostly tourism), and shared some of Minor’s quirkiness. As I understand it, Tanaka funded five universities (one in New Zealand) to send faculty and students for a cultural exchange in Tokyo. Minor came in at Hobart and Smith, one of the other colleges, and brought that with him.

As a member of, and sometimes head of the Asian Studies Committee at IWU, I was positioned to lead the trip. I was also in a position to choose the candidates among the sophomore students, and my goal was to ensure that one of them would be from Business Administration. That had never happened before at IWU. One of the other faculty pushed a student who when she saw fish, went, “Ew, fish.” She found being a vegetarian avoided that potential cultural conflict, and thus missed some of the best foods on the trip.

The format was that we would be flown to Tokyo and all our expenses would be covered (given how expensive Japan was, that was useful. We had a $50 voucher one night and it bought a hamburger and a coke). We stayed in different neighborhoods, which gave us a sense of the size if not diversity of Tokyo. As I recall, early on, we had a tremor, learning what the “rim of fire” was about.

Technos was a school focusing mostly on tourism, and one of the real treats was a resort maintained in the mountains, with a hot pool in the mornings watching the sun come up. It provided training to the Technos students, and joy to the guests.

Three other memories remain in my mind: the first was the Tuna Market (I think it moved in 2018), where ginormous Tuna were bought and sold. The most expensive went for $3 million. Charlie the Tuna would have been as astonished as I was to see the activity in the wee hours of the morning.

The second was Japanese baseball. I did not realize the teams were corporate. That is, the Tokyo Giants were part of the Yomiuri newspaper and television empire. Equivalent to the Yankees, the Giants are the oldest professional team and one of the most successful (22 championships). Their games were in the Tokyo Dome, starting at 6 pm. I did not realize until then that the start allowed the salarymen to come straight from work in their suits with briefcases. As you might expect from a Japanese crowd, the cheering was orchestrated and the audience followed the cheerleaders. Food was exceptional: bento instead of hot dog, with beer distributed via something like a fire extinguisher. It was great fun.

The third was a stay in a small town that looked like (and probably was) a locale for pictures of early Japan. Small shops, small buildings.

I should note that not only did faculty choose students, but many activities split faculty and students. It wasn’t like May Term–babysitting, guide, guardian, warden, whatever was required.

Mrs. Hoyt joined me afterwards for Kyoto and Nara to be reported later.

Go West (to Xinjiang)

In 1999, David joined me for an “after May Term trip” to explore western China. It was shortly after US planes bombed the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, and tensions between the two countries was high. I remember Dr. Jin constantly on the phone to his friends in China, debating whether we ought to proceed to China given the anti-American protests. Having learned how to say, “Ottawa is wonderful this time of year” (everyone loves Canadians), we proceeded. When the group left, David—who’d joined us in Beijing—and I boarded a train that took us to Xi’an and eventually into Xinjiang.In Xi’an we had some visits to new sites—for example the tomb of the Empress Wu?, the lone female emperor of China. As we went west, we encountered more Chinese named Muhammad

Former Russian Consulate (now a guest house where I stayed)

, or who had beards. There were stunning mosques, and ruins of previous cities along the old Silk Road. Underground aqueducts nourished crops in the desert, as they had in ancient times. The Mogao caves at the entrance to the Taklimakan desert preserved Buddhist art from the 4th thru 14th centuries, scarred by Muslim invaders and Red Guards, but still magnificent. Dunhuang also offered camel rides, which gave one a feel for the enormity of “land travel” in ancient times. Grateful merchants had had the grottoes filled with paintings, either grateful for a successful passage, or in hopes of propitiating the gods and having a good trip. I remember Urumqi as an armed camp, with prominent Liberation Army troops in the streets, and in trucks; the locals had their own idea of what “liberation” meant, bombing busses occasionally. Kashgar stimulated me to read about “the Great Game”—the clash between the British Lion and the Russian Bear for India. Kashgar was one of those flashpoints, where the Russian Consul (whose compound included our guesthouse) had a private army. Inspired, I wanted to cross the Pamirs into Pakistan and Afghanistan….but even then, disturbed and disturbing countries. We visited ruins in Xinjiang: Gaochang and Jiaohe, Bezeklik Caves, which the Russians pilfered in the Great Game days and brought back to the Hermitage. “I know what wall those came from,” I said when I saw them in St. Petersburg. We also toured the TianShan mountains and rode horses to look at snow-capped peaks. We were really in the Wild West.

Interestingly, China is one time zone, at least government offices think so. They run on Beijing time. The rest of Xinjiang thinks local time makes more sense. It is certainly “different”.