VIET NAM

I loved Vietnam!  It was noisy, dirtier than the Japan or China that we has seen, very hot and humid, full of the most amazing contrasts, and I loved it.

From the ship there was a shuttle bus service to a big central hotel in the city,  This was more than a Godsend. It meant we could walk to places reasonably easily, and believe me, walking in that heat was something you wanted to keep to a minimum.

So day 1, Audrey and I took the said, shuttle bus into the city and found an ATM machine where wee could get some money. I NEVER became easy with the Vietnamese money. One US dollar is approximately 20,000 dong.  All those zeros did it for me. It all seemed verey easy, 100,00 dong = $5, 50c = 10,000. You finish up with a wallet full of paper bills all sporting  a vast and varying number of zeros.  They all carry the head of the same gent, they all are roughly similar shades of greyish green!  Never mind we managed. Although, we never allowed ourselves to take a taxi.  We heard some nasty stories of taxi drivers overcharging, short-changing their fares, and becoming very aggressive. So in Ho Chi Min City, other than riding in the shuttle bus, we walked!  After having got the money we walked along one of the main streets where there were more motor bikes, I should say motor scooters than I have ever seen!

 

I have sent postcards  of this traffic to some of you and passed on the advice we were given by locals.  don’t tryu and dodge the traffic.  Walk slowly and confidently forward and the traffic will dodge you’  AND IT WORKS!  Any way we are still alive! And I bought a hat – a Vietnamese hat for $2 US !  Here is a picture of Audrey and I sitting waiting for the shuttle bus – note my hat.

On the second day we went again by shuttle bus and a hot, hot walk to the post-office.  What a fabulous place – air-conditioned, huge, and with a huge photo of Hi Chi Min on the wall.  There were little shops attached to the post office, so without even facing the heat we did a lot of shopping fir ‘little’ things,  Vietnam is by far the most inexpensiove place we have visited so far so that made the shopping even more fun and gave ua the energy to make ouyr way back to the shuttle bus.

Day 3 was magic.  We took tour to the Mekong Delta.  We left the city drove through rice fields visited a temple by a seated Buddah,  took a boat ride on the river , were given coconut milk to drink, saw beautiful women making coconut candy,took a ride on a tiny rickety horse and cart, had lunch in a fabulous open air restaurant, saw a water buffalo, and then had a canoe trip along canals through the jungle. I think it was here I fell in love with the country. The people are SO KIND,  SO FRIENDLY, AND THE PLACE IS SO BEAUTIFUL.!!

I’m going to send this off to you now. I will send some mouth watering pictures tomorrow.

LOVE TO YOU ALL – WISH YOU WERE HERE.

LIZ, MUM, GRANNY.

CATCHING UP - HONG KONG

Oh dear, I’m  dreadfully behind in my blog. – That   sounds vaguely indecent doesn’t it?  No, it’s just that Shanghai followed hot on Japan, which was followed even hotter by Hong Kong, and I had barely transferred all my China photos and sent my Shanghai disc, when we were in Viet Nam – Ho Chi Min City as Saigon is now called.  You will probably have gathered by now that working on the computer is really only feasible during days at sea. As soon as we're in port,  it’s off the ship to see the sights. But now we are on the first day of quite a goodly time at sea. Today is March 3rd and we don’t get to INDIA till the 11th. It should be calm, so I’m hoping to get caught up with all my computer stuff.

So here’s to Hong Kong.  In a way it’s nice going back and reminding myself of all the exciting things I did. So on day one we awoke to find ourselves docked in front of a line of skyscrapers.  Huge, powerful, imposing.  The success of capitalism writ large along the sky-line?  But no, for beyond the skyscrapers I could see the peak – the treecovered steep slopes and the real skyline of the old Hong Kong, still visible as a backdrop to the new  Hong Kong!!

So one of the very first things we did on our first day was to take the tram up to the top of the Peak.  This was where I was born and lived for the first three months of my life.  So it is obviously VERY IMPORTANT.  Right?  It is also great fun.  The tram runs on rails and  is pulled by cables up a very, VERY, steep slope.                                     

You can see all the people waiting along the platform –luckily there is a railed barrier – poised ready to RUSH onto the car.  The ride up takes about 10/15 minutes.  At the top the view over the city is fabulous – ‘panoramic’ as my dear mother would say. A Kind stranger took a picture of Audrey and I at the edge.  It was a bit misty over the city, but we certainly appreciated the view.

We went and had lunch in a small Thai restaurant, and we were just cominmg out of the washroom, no less, luckily already having paid,  when we heard drumming.  We rushed outside to find a dragon dance just beginning in the courtyard.  WOW – WHAT LUCK.  We had seen a movie clip of one of these on the ship.  They are soo clever and beautiful.  Men under the ‘dragon’ move it about, and more men are under two ‘tigers’ who perform acrobatics on poles.  It is wonderful.  Well, Audrey and I forgot our ‘western’ diffidence, (Audrey was even better than I) and pushed and wriggled with the best of the Chinese and finished up right in the front, where we could even touch the tigers for good luck and fortune for the coming year. We felt lucky already!

We spent the second day doing the official city tour offered from the ship.  We went up to the Peak again but this time by bus.  What a ride, -  oh those twists and turns, those hair-pin bends.  Great fun.  We were taken through the downtown park.  It was wonderful to see the use of such small spaces to create such beauty. Water was a dominant feature.

We were also taken through some of the downtown streets and even through the largest bank.  Oh those impeccably well-dressed Chinese young men in the black suits, collars and ties. I felt sad. I hope the beauty of the ancient places and culture isn’t going to be lost in the name of capitalism and ever growing profits. Our tour ended with a visit down river where we had a ride on a boat. My faith was restored!!

 

Day three we went away from Hong Kong Island, through Kowloon and into the New Territories.  The highlight of that day was a stop by a beautiful sandy beach on the shores of the South China sea, a visit to a fishing village.  There we had another ride on a small boat to see the houses on stilts over the water, and then a little further out to see a fishing boat at work.  On the way out we caught just a glimpse of some pink dolphins.  We didn’t see much more that their fins, but that was exciting enough.  On leaving the village, we drove first to a temple and statue of a great buddah on a hill, and then to a cable car which took us high over the hills before we met the bus to be driven back to the ship.  It was such an enjoyable day.

Good-bye H0ng Kong.  I felt sad to leave.  It was good-bye to my past and I took a last photo of the receding lights.  But I feel so lucky to have been back – Shanghai – Hong Kong. I  never thought I’d see either of them again.

And now a final word to those of you who have been adding comments to this blog.  I never found them till now.  The original computer clutz!!  So now a very big, if belated, thank you to David,  Jo, Jamie, and Randy and Elizabeth. Please keep sending them – I KNOW HOW TO FIND THEM NOW!!  Congratulations Randy on the job.  Audrey cried with happiness when I told her the news.

So ever onward over the seas.  Now, mercifully,  it is truly smooth sailing!

Lots of love to you ALL,  Liz, Mum, Granny

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