CHINA – BEEN THERE DONE THAT.

Once again it seems long time since I was talking to you all. Shanghai and Hong Kong been and gone.

Being in Shanghai was very exciting, and emotional.  I got up early to catch the very first glimpse possible of the ‘Bund’.  This was the row of oold buildings that stood on the WEaterfront, when I was a child, and the same buildings stand there today.  It is preserved and advertised as pert of the ‘old Shanghai’ of the days before the war when Shanghai was ruled by the foreign concessions.  So there it was this row of old stone buildings, still impressive, but today dwarfed by a forest of sky-scrapers.  There was a trip along the Bund, we walked along it and I had my photo taken in front of the building where my father used to work as editor of the Shanghai Times. Wow, quite a moment!

We then moved into another old area – the old Chinese shoppong area. Wowe again.  Narrow streets a little square, every building decorated with hanging lanterns and other decorations, and PEOPLE. The capitals are well deserved.  So many people; all jostling for space to walk, to turn, to stop. It was a Sunday, and Shanghai was still in the middle of the New Year celebrations.  Audrey was a bit nervous, but I felt strangely at home as people, lots of people, lots and lots of people is part of my chilhood, probably subconscious, memories of Shanghai.

The second day we went with Maggie and George to the old French concession where I lived as a child.  Of course that was seventy years ago and all the old French street names have been vchanged to Chines.  A professor here on the ship had some old maps and we gfound the Chinese namme for Avenue Haig as was.  Well we drove along it and walked along a part of it, but nothing came back.  Still I could say I was there and we went into a Chinese street cafe where I enjoyed the most fabulous bowl of beef noodle soup.

Our third and last day we went to the Shanghai museum.  This is world cvlass and has poottery, porcelain, jade painting and even cvostumes dating back to way, way BC. and just breathtaking, both for themselves and how they are displayed.  What a way to appreciate the worth and the age of the Chinese civi;lization.  We stayed there for hours, topok lots of pictures and ‘enjoyed’ ourselves in the Museum shop!

Frm the Museum we took a taxi to the main   shopping area of  Shanghai today at Nanking Road.  Marion, do you remember the name. The namre has stayed and it is still one of the main shopping areas, but oh what a difference.  The shops are now huge emporiums, tyhere are many malls, one could be in any large American city!  Except for the people. We got onto a side street and walked along with the crowds.  This was a pedestrian only street and they even had a little open train on which you could get a free ride!  There were  of touts who tried to sell us wares or take us to their special shppes.  I caught the eye of a young girl, and mimed that we  needed to eat.  She hurried us along to an alley way down which there was a  very Chinese restaurant!  Despite Audrey’s fear that we would get food poisoning, if not worse, we did order a couple of dishes which i enjoyed very much.  Even Audrey ate some, and neither of us suffered any harm at all.  We went back to the main pedestrian street and strolled back.  I had no desire to go into a modern shop at all but bought a beautiful pair of real soft leather gloves from a street in our alleyway!  This I think, had to be my favourite Shanghai experience.  I felt so at home among all those happy cheerful Chinese.  And as my mother used to say – the little children are adorable.

A couple of final words about China.  I did not seer single beggar, I did not see a single rickshaw pulled by sweating Chinese, the streets were clean, constantly being swept, and I did not see a single fly.  OK, I know there a still problems, but I left Shanghai, sad to say goodbye, but happy that it was in much better hands than it had been when I was a child.

I`ll do a separate blog for Hong Kong.

Lots of love to you all.

Liz

PICTURES FROM JAPAN

Japan is a fascinating mixture of old and new.  On our first day in Yokohama we ‘did’ the city tour. It started in the most beautiful old park.  This park was originally privately owned and then donated to the city. So the beautiful old house was still there in the park.  There was also a lake, a hill with an impressive pagoda on the top of it.

From the park we went to a lookout point over the docks and then the whole city.  What a contrast!! At the docks you can just see our ship – its the biggest!

 

Talk about crowded!!

The next day Audrey was not well so I saw all this on my own.  We were driven to Kamakura - (Memories Marion?) and went to see the 12th century bronze Buddah – a National Treasure .Im also showing you the statute of the lion-dog in the courtyard

Also in Kamakura was an impressive Shinto Shrine. The place was full of school children in uniform!

From there we left the town and went up into the hills, for a boatride on a lake

It was very misty.  We couldn’t see Mt Fuji as was advertised, but the mist added to the beauty.

The next day Audrey was feeling better, well enough to come on the next trip.  We went all the way to Kyoto by train to see a theatre show of several old Japenese  art forms. It was exciting going by train, mingling with real Japenese, living real Japenese lives. The pictures we took actually in the theatre will give you a rough idea of what it was like.

Here is a final photo from Japan. They took advantage of our time in port to paint the ship!  Here is the intrepid painter climbing back up the ropes.

There is so much more I would like to be able to tell you, but I hope you enjoy the picture show.

I have to wait till we are at sea to be abl;e to send this blog to you.  We are now on our way sailing to SHANGHAI!!  I AM SO EXCITED!!

Love to you all  Liz  xoxox

EVEN MORE ABOUT LIFE AT SEA

Oh my, it really is quite a while since I was writing on this blog.  We had a long time at sea.  You would think that that would give us lots of time to write, but oh no!  Life at sea seems to be very, very full.  I had not realized the extent to which this is like living on campus, everyone rushing to classes, extra meetings, meals, socializing, etc, etc.  Time is organized into A days and B days with no weekends!  Very continuous!!  There was just one day with no classes and you could almost hear all the students, all the faculty and even us life long learners take a big breath in and relax.  And then, all this activity is done on  very unstable ground!!  We ran into some very choppy seas between Hawaii and Japan.  Moving became even  harder..more of a case of lurching from railings  to walls  to pillars to posts and back again.  Two of the waiters in the dining room – Eric and Darwin - befriended Audrey and I in a big way.  As we approached the entrance to the dining room, messages would seem to be sent and our helpers would be there, offering their arms, escorting us to the food, carrying our plates, escorting us to a table, and then bringing us coffee, tea, juice, and deserts.  All this was done with such friendliness, and much humour.  It really helped us see the fun side of the situation.  I was very lucky;  all this rocking and heaving did not stop me from sleeping like a log.  A lot of people had trouble with this, including Audrey.  There have also been a few bugs going around, including an upper-respiratory one, which unfortunately poor Audrey caught.  She has had nasty cough for quite a few days now.  She was finally given some anti-biotics  and cough-medicine the day before yesterday, and is already feeling better.

The day before we arrived in Japan, (luckily the waves had subsided!) was Asia Day.  There were no classes, and the day was filled with special presentations.  We went to one in the morning, – a talk and wonderful slides on Hong Kong, given by a couple who had lived there for two years a few years ago.  They are both architects and it was all fascinating – so many huge skyscrapers, not only in Hong Kong Island but also across in Kowloon.  But behind all the new buildings you could still see the sky-line of the ‘Peak’, up in the hills where most of the Europeans lived.  That’s where I started my life, – on the Peak - in Hong Kong.  I’m very excited at the thought going back.

In the afternoon we went to another presentation given by the Chinese students who are on the ship.  Yes, real Chinese students who live in China and who are all absolutely charming. The women were dressed in  beautiful chinese silk dresses, all exquisitely embroidered.  The men put on suits. They looked so different from how we are used to seeing them in jeans and T-shirts!  One of the women did some Chinese flower painting – wow!  They sang traditional songs from Chinese opera, demonstrated the caligraphy with the traditional bamboo brushes,  and told us such a lot about the history of these arts, all with such grace and charm.  The demonstration finished as they showed us the art of paper cutting.  They brought a lot of extra paper sheets, so we all could have a turn. Audrey and I each have double good-luck paper cut-outs on the wall, such as are made for weddings!  What a fabulous experience!

Asia day concluded with Chinese food for dinner.  What a great day!

I am now sitting at dock in Kobe.  We have already had two days in Yokohama, and a day at sea as we sailed around to Kobe, which brings me to today. I am going to try and send this off today and start a new blog for JAPAN with pictures.  Wish me luck again!!

As always, lots of love to you all, family and friends.

Liz  xoxoxoxo

WOW!

WOW IV’E HEARD FROM ENOUGH OF YOU TO KOW THAT THE PICTURES ARE COMING THROUGH.  S0 HERE ARE A FEW MORE

I THINK I’M GETTING BETTER AT THIS. IM CERTAINLY HAVING MORE FUN!

MORE WILL COME SOON. LOVE LIZ

PHOTOS AT LAST!!!

Here are a few random photos from Hawaii.