yokohama...

We arrived this morning in Yokohama and were greeted by about 40 people, some of whom were our own students who had travelled independently from Kobe. The fellow in red in the photo walked up and down the pathway waving his US and Japanese flags and shouting "Welcome to Yokohama". Those are three of our students standing to his left.

I expected Yokohama to be much more industrial, but the port area is quite nice and John and I got off the ship to find a place to have coffee. In the end we decided not to spend the short time we have here looking for the area where I was born. Research I have done had shown that the nearby town, called Irumagawa, is now called Sayama, in the Saitama Prefecture http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sayama,_Saitama. The base is now Iruma Air Base in Iruma, Saitama, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iruma,_Saitama and is run by the Japanese. Other sites I had found indicated it would be impossible to get on the base. I also spoke to our interport lecturer, a professor at university near here, and she was familiar with the area. She thought it would not be hard to get to, but wasn't sure that we would see anything there. She was born near there in 1952, a couple of years after I was. I enjoyed very much talking with her on the ship.

So, John and I decided to get a hotel in the area to have a bit of a break from the ship. We have a good view of the bay from our hotel room and can see the Explorer below. We also found that there were a couple of giant -- HUGE -- spiders in the port area below. There was fire and lots of noise, and we decided this was some sort of Japanese monster movie being filmed. However I did a search and found the following website http://pinktentacle.com/2009/04/giant-robot-spider-in-yokohama-pics-video/ that has a film of these mechanical spiders and explains that they will be used in celebrating the 150 year anniversary of the opening of Yokohama as a port. The place looks a fair bit different than it did even 60 years ago, right Mom?

We will be leaving tomorrow evening for the long sail to Hawaii. Great news -- Clark will be meeting us in Honolulu! It will be wonderful to see him on the 19th and 20th while we are in port there.

cherry blossom time!

When we got back to the ship after our Beijing trip we had one day in Shanghai (location Longitude: 31 degrees 14.85' N, Longitude: 121 degrees 29.55' E) before we left for Kobe, Japan http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kobe. John had a field trip for his classes that last day (Friday, April 3), and I took a long walk downtown from the port. I was tired from Beijing and didn't feel any great need or desire to do more than that. The port area in Shanghai is nicer than most, so walking was perfect. We left for Kobe that evening and took two days to get here, so arrived yesterday (Monday, April 6, although it was still Sunday for most of you). So our current Kobe location is Latitude: 34 degrees 40.81' N, Longitude: 135 degrees 12.21'E, although we are sailing in about half an hour.


Our shipboard daughter Monica's birthday is today so we celebrated on the way to Kobe since everyone had plans in port. It was a fun celebration with our shipboard family. Our next get together will be a "special occasion dinner" on April 14 when we can go to a room attached to the cafeteria and be dressed up and waited on and have champagne. I think we are all looking forward to that for a change to the routine!

When we got to Kobe yesterday, after the usual diplomatic briefing (where we learned to our shock that 7 Eleven in Japan is actually a bank as well as a convenience store), we had the most elaborate immigration and customs procedure yet -- it required that all 1000 people on the ship collect passports and forms from the purser and have a face to face meeting with immigration people who took photos and fingerprints and who used dogs to check backpacks, etc. Needless to say it took a fair bit of time. People who had SAS port trips planned went first and then the rest of us, faculty and staff before students. John and I went through then came back on the ship for lunch before heading out for the nearby light rail train into Kobe. We walked around the city a bit then returned to the ship. It's hard to believe this city was nearly destroyed by an earthquake in 1995 that killed over 4000 people and left more than 200,000 homeless. (It is now 2300 ship time and engines have just started up and we are starting to move.)

Today we had a trip to Kyoto http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyoto with a group from the ship and enjoyed peak cherry blossom time. The trees are very beautiful right now and the weather was perfect with very blue skies and moderate temperatures. The day was packed with visits to structures and gardens. It took about an hour and a half on a bus to get to Kyoto from Kobe, and we went first with our guide Rumi to Nijo Castle http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nijo_Castle where we toured the palaces and observed the art in the rooms. We then walked through the garden and enjoyed the cherry trees in bloom.

Our second stop in Kyoto was the Kinkaku-ji Temple or Rokuan-ji Temple http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinkaku-ji, also known as the Golden Pavilion Temple because of the fact that the top two levels of the building are covered in gold leaf. We did not go into the temple, but did enjoy the beautiful pond, garden and cherry trees. There was a gray heron in the pond, and a good sized turtle sunning himself on a rock. We had box lunches from the ship which we stopped to eat in Muruayama park http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maruyama_Park (be sure to see the "Information about Muruayama park" link on this site for some nice photos). The views were very nice and we enjoyed our lunch and the birds in the area.


After lunch we went to a Shinto shrine http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinto_shrine known as Heian Jingu Shrine http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heian_Jing%C5%AB. The garden there is also beautiful with cherry blossoms. Our final stop was at the Buddhist Kiyomizu-dera Temple http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiyomizu-dera. John and I were both feeling "templed-out" by that time and did not make the climb to the top of the hill to visit this one, although people reported that it was beautiful. We headed back to the ship and Rumi taught us a Japanese folk song "Sakura, Sakura" about the cherry blossoms which we sang on the way back. Check http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sakura_(folk_song) and note the link to the melody on that page.

As mentioned above, we are now on our way to Yokohama and should be there the morning of April 9. As most of you reading this know, I was born in Japan. John and I are going to try to find the former Air Force Base where I was born after we reach Yokohama. From what I have found out this may not be that easy to do, but some of the travel people who are working with SAS will do what they can to help.

beijing continued...

On Wednesday, April 1, we went to the Great Wall and to Olympic venues, and I wrote about those trips on that date. There were a couple of other highlights on Wednesday that I want to mention. One is that in the elevator in the hotel that morning, there were a number of young girls that were high school age. As they chatted, my roommate asked them where they were from and it turned out that they were from Canmore, Alberta! One of the fun things about travel is realizing how small the world can be. I talked with them for awhile -- they were thrilled to meet someone from so close to home, and so was I. While our group had walked around the day before, the Chinese people were quite taken with the people in our group who had very blonde (and usually long) hair. Some of the older women would approach and stroke the hair and want to have their picture taken with these people. They also liked being photographed with very tall people. The girls from Canmore were blonde and tall, so we warned them that this would likely happen to them too. I never saw them again while we were there -- they had said they were on a school trip.

Also of note on Wednesday was that our trip leader, one of the academics from Semester at Sea, approached our guide privately and told him that she understood that he might not be able to respond, but she wanted to know if he felt he could comment on the events in Tiananmen Square twenty years ago. He replied that he would comment, but that he could not do it publicly or on the microphone on the bus. He then spoke quietly to those of us within earshot and discussed the fact that he was quite young when the events took place and that the local news showed only a group of students killing a policeman and reported something over 200 people killed when rioting took place. As he got older and more curious he found ways to get information (many internet sites are blocked in China) that had been distributed to the rest of the world by journalists who were present and who managed to get other stories and pictures out. He recognizes that the Chinese people did not get the whole story, but stops short of saying his government was wrong to stop the students. He points out the number of changes that took place after the events of 1989, and of course he is not wrong.

Our last day in Beijing was Thursday, April 2. During the four days we were there Spring had come to Beijing. Leaves had opened on the willow trees, and forsythia was in bloom. We continued our heavy schedule after breakfast, visiting the YongHeGong Lama Temple http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yonghe_Temple or http://www.kinabaloo.com/yonghegong.html. It is a temple and monastery of Tibetan Buddhism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tibetan_Buddhism and apparently if you arrive at the right time (we did not), you can see 130 monks meditating. Any other time many other visitors can be seen meditating, praying, lighting incense or just wandering around looking. There are several buildings and each hall contains several gold Buddhas and other relics. One contains an 18 meter tall gold painted Buddha made from a single white sandalwood tree.

After another great lunch at a local restaurant, we went to see the Summer Palace http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summer_Palace where we had a walk around the grounds and a dragon boat ride on Kunming Lake. We never cease to be amazed at ourselves when we jump at the chance for a boat ride after all the time we spend on the ship! It was quite windy and cool that day, and we enjoyed watching old men flying kites on the Seventeen-Arch Bridge.

Following our visit to the Summer Palace it was time to make our way to the airport for our flight to Shanghai where we would join the ship which had sailed from Hong Kong in our absence. In the bus 0ur trip leader asked Andy if he could give the students some information on the Cultural Revolution in China http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_Revolution and he did spend some time discussing this with the students. We aren't sure why, but he also had decided to share the information about Tiananmen Square that he had discussed with some of us the previous day. After the discussion our trip leader asked the students to respect the fact that Andy would not be able to publicly address these issues and to make sure the conversation about it stayed on the bus. I believe this willingness of our guide to share his thoughts, his clear love for his city and his country, and his dedication to making sure we had an exceptional experience in China made the differencebetween our trip and the ones that others had in Beijing. I wish everyone could have felt what we did as we came back. Andy's final gift to us was a song -- the only American song, he said, that he knew all the words. This may come under the category of "you had to be there", but we were very moved by his efforts. I could not record the whole thing, but hope you enjoy the attached short video.

back in beijing...

We continue to make our way to Kobe, Japan with our current location at 2105 Sunday night ship time...
Latitude: 32 degrees 33.63' N
Longitude: 133 degrees 41.33' E
Course: 60 degrees

A group of 38 of us (2 faculty, 1 staff, 2 "tagalongs" [me and one other], 2 tagalong teenagers, and 31 students) left for Beijing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beijing by first boarding a bus to the airport in Hong Kong at 6:00am on Monday, March 30, and catching an Air China flight. Going from Hong Kong to anywhere in China is considered an international flight, so we had to clear customs in addition to the usual security checks and so on. The Hong Kong airport is quite nice, with free internet and lots of shops and food places. I had the impression that most things run on time -- our three hour flight did and the experience was very pleasant. We even got breakfast, something that does not happen on North American flights any more! The airport in Beijing is pretty spectacular too.

We were met in Beijing by our tour guide, Andy, who we later learned is 29 years old and who has a University degree in English. We went first to a nice restaurant for lunch and sampled some of the local dishes. It was a good meal and we went then to the Temple of Heaven http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_of_Heaven, a Taoist http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taoism structure built in the 15th and 16th centuries. On our
walk to the main building, we passed many people of all ages, engaged in leisure activities: games, playing musical instruments, dancing, singing. One young couple was having wedding photographs shot. The attached video is one of the larger group activities we witnessed. After an hour or so walking around the grounds, we returned to the bus and went to our hotel for check-in. My roommate was our assistant librarian on the ship, a young woman from Alabama.

Later that evening we went out for a Peking duck dinner. We had duck in all ways you can imagine and it was very good, although I found that I was quite tired from the traveling and earlier activities of the day. We returned to the hotel and I think most of us had an early night.

On Tuesday morning we were up fairly early for a buffet breakfast in the hotel since we were to be back on the bus by 9:00am. The hotel was full of tourists from all over, and we all sat at very large round tables with people we didn't know. People seemed very intent on eating breakfast and there was little talking going on. It was all very efficient and we made it to the bus in good time.

Our first visit on this day was to Tiananmen Square http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiananmen_Square. This year is the 20th anniversary of what much of the world calls the Tiananmen Square Massacre, and what the Chinese call the Tiananmen Square Event or the June Fourth Incident http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiananmen_Square_protests_of_1989ki/Tiananmen_Square_protests_of_1989. Our guide spoke of the structure of the Square, and of the fact that it is the largest city square in the world, but said nothing of the "Event", something that many of us found disturbing, but not surprising. It was quite cool outside on this day and a number of the students bought hats (see photo) from the street vendors at the Square. These vendors were selling all kinds of junk and chased around after us trying to bargain with us. We are all getting pretty good at saying no (since this has happened everywhere we have travelled), but they did not give up easily -- perhaps because so many bought hats. Mao watches with waving hands were popular items too, even though these students are too young to have any memory of Chairman Mao waving in front of the cameras.

From Tiananmen Square, we went to the Forbidden City http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forbidden_City, walking in through the Meridian Gate. We used electronic headsets with technology that could detect where you were and deliver the appropriate dialogue, which made it very convenient for everyone to move through this massive site at his or her own pace. We spent a little more than two hours there, but you could easily spend days seeing everything. It was sobering to see military training exercises among buildings called "The Hall of Supreme Harmony" and "The Hall of Earthly Tranquility". The movie "The Last Emperor" had run on the loop on the cabin tv's the week before so the area inside the walls looked very familiar. I am happy to have had the experience of being there and seeing it first hand -- it is a magnificent place.

After lunch at another nice restaurant, we were treated to trishaw (variation on the rickshaw where, instead of a two wheeled seat being pulled by a person walking or running ahead, the unit is attached to a cycle so that the whole thing has three wheels) rides through Hutong http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hutong lanes and a visit to one of the courtyard homes. Our group visited a family who had eight people in three generations living together with the courtyard in the center. We had an opportunity to talk to the woman who was in the middle generation and to see the kitchen, a couple of bedrooms, and her artist husband's work area. After a little more than an hour in this area, we went to the Bell Tower http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beijing_Gulou_and_Zhonglou and walked up some steep and deep stairs to the top where we could see the huge bronze bell contained in it. It was quite cold and windy by that time, so we didn't stay long and went downstairs to a tea shop where we had a tea tasting with pomp and ceremony. It was a lovely place to get warm!

Once at the hotel, we were on our own for the evening, and my roommate and one of the students and I decided to go in search of western food. The only place we could find within walking distance was MacDonalds, which I never eat at home, but which I found was absolutely perfect that evening!